Dadr'Ba (32 page)

An investigation ensued, the intruder’s showed on no security cameras. P’Ko identified them as Mi’Nr’s. No Mi’Nr’s had ever been turned and worked for the CASS. The psychic ability of the Mi’Nr’s would have quickly discovered it.

It was possible that the CASS could have taken one of their detainees, perhaps, thought dead by the community, and not expecting to get caught, they could have coerced them into doing the job.

It was evident that reporting it to the Up’Lndrs, in spite of their advanced forensic tools, was a waste of time. There’s no way this is going to be reported outside the mining community, and it’s equally obvious that this wasn’t an ordinary theft.

P’Ko’s sack safe that had alerted him was an old model that P’Ko upgraded with a scan alarm. By looking at the sack safe there was no way to tell that the sack safe had a scan alarm, that was the intruders mistake. When the thieves tampered with the sack safe and scanned it to discover its contents and access code it alarmed.

There was something about the intruder that he saw, something about the way he acted. It was like the intruder was trying to tell him something, the intruders could have killed P’Ko.

As near as P’Ko could tell nothing was touched in his quarters, but later when the Mi’Nr investigator arrived with specialized equipment, equipment that P’Ko was surprised that the Mi’Nr’s possessed, and performed a scan, a surveillance device was detected and carefully removed.

Su’Pr Ve’Ln led the investigation, Mi’Ka assisted, and more surveillance devices were discovered, not just in P’Ko’s quarters, but elsewhere as well, which initiated a thorough search of other T’Bm’s, mining camps and key locations in Ol’Tn’s.

Analysis of the devices provided emission signatures that made it easier to discover others but yielded no clues to who was responsible. The CASS was the prime suspect, though the Church, as noble as they strive to be, is known to have its intelligence requirements, and motivations for keeping tabs on the Mi’Nr’s.

The suspicion of the Church increased when P’Ko shared his experience from the Touch of God ceremony followed by the not so discreet surveillance he was subjected to afterward.

Mi’Ka conceded that the Church probably surveilled P’Ko but had nothing to do with the break in. Based on these few data points, using her psychic ability and centuries of experience living under CA control, Mi’Ka became convinced that the Mi’Nr’s involved were Prz’Nr’s forced to help the CASS.

The metal glint P’Ko saw beneath the coveralls must have been a shield device preventing psychic communication. The CASS has been working for centuries studying psychic abilities and how to understand control and exploit them. The vest probably included a remotely controlled explosive, known to be used by the CASS in the past to control Prz’Nr’s.

The data helmet communication device the perpetrator wore was probably used to direct the actions of the Mi’Nr from a control center somewhere.

A course of action evolved. First, they needed to find out more about the intruders and who’s behind them.

CASS Director Chi’Yo sat at his desk staring at the report, his anger and frustration surging, not so much, by what the report contained but by what it didn’t.

This idiot Sh’P’Po standing before him should be retired immediately. He’s being forced to risk his career, his hard-earned status, his life… on this clumsy buffoon. He was sorely tempted to reach for the weapon in his desk drawer and retire this idiot, now.

Chi’Yo continued to stare at the report and ironically found himself practicing the mental calming techniques that his surveillance agents had discovered Chn’Gi beginning to practice.

Sh’P’Po stood at attention, facing Chi’Yo across the desk that separated them, and watched.

Chi’Yo stared at his report, thinking through the disaster. Okay, the operation failed, that’s one of the risks in this business.

But based on their analysis and profile of P’Ko and his financials, he shouldn’t have been able to afford a scan alarm model, and the records show that he purchased a non-scan alarm model. There’s no way the team could have known that that Dr’T loving U’Te P’Ko upgraded it himself. EXCEPT, for the fact, plain in his record, that P’Ko is a mechanic and a good one too, and had access to the components and tools to do the sack safe upgrade himself.

They should have suspected and came prepared, but to get that level of expertise down in a T’Bm would have meant using a D’En agent in an exoskeleton equipped eSuit instead of those stupid Prz’Nr’s
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. He and his advisors should have known they would eventually get caught; there had been close calls before.

But an exoskeleton equipped D’En’s sneaking into an operating T’Bm even off shift is a recipe for disaster. It’s like sounding off with loud speakers “Hey, everyone, we’re not supposed to be here! And we’re up to no good!”

Studying the report, Chi’Yo saw that they got sloppy, they deviated from the plan, and took too long. They were directed to plant the surveillance devices and look around for and investigate anything that could be linked to the resistance, including the cheap budget model sack safe purchase records indicated P’Ko had.

They failed to check the sack safe for an alarm and failed to detect the silent alarm when it went off. Had they aborted as soon as the alarm went off they would have been free and clear. This stupid P’Ko that discovered them would have come running to an empty room and would have thought it a false alarm. 

Using the Prz’Nr’s was the right choice; they had been used many times before, though there had been close calls, they should have been prepared. Now on one of the few times he wasn’t in the Op Center the Op’Cm (Operation Commander) and operators panicked and aborted. And they failed to have an adequate abort plan in place.

It’s good they didn’t get captured, but they did have time in Chi’Yo’s estimation to nab P’Ko and have him “disappear.” P’Ko would’ve made an excellent addition to the Prz’Nr team. There are a couple of members showing signs they’re overdue for retirement, well not retirement, there would be no passing, we should call it “tech refresh.”

Word of this episode with P’Ko has undoubtedly made it back to the rest of the Prz’Nr’s. He might have to increase the drugs being fed to the Prz’Nr’s to keep them complacent, but that slows them down and can even be hazardous in a mining environment.

Using one of his provocation techniques on them to keep mindful of the “rules” might be appropriate. Blame this episode on the Prz’Nr’s and withhold spices and take away their food texturizer for a month or so. Make them eat tasteless mush. Or better yet, it’s been a decade or more since the last mock-E (mock execution) and probably a century since the last real one. Each time it’s successfully motivated/subdued the Prz’Nr’s. Mock-E’s have even energized ones he has been considering for a tech refresh. Chi’Yo made a mental note to implement a mock-E, soon, that should head off some of the trouble that this fiasco may cause and keep the Prz’Nr’s good for another decade or so.

Chi’Yo looked up at Sh’P’Po, as stupid and incompetent as Sh’P’Po is, he still the best he’s got for dealing with the Mi’Nr’s. This episode has been an enormous setback, but this lousy excuse for a Chief of Mpr’ISR
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.

To Sh’P’Po’s credit, and Chi’Yo’s dismay, Sh’P’Po has successfully eliminated or undermined his competition, securing his position, and populated his staff with people even more incompetent than himself, guaranteeing that there’s no one qualified, and has the specialized knowledge and experience to promote over him or replace him.

Bringing a replacement in from the outside, would take time and placing someone from the outside in charge Sh’P’Po’s staff of hand-picked and groomed nincompoops, who are totally dependent on Sh’P’Po for intelligent action, is as good as not having a Mpr’ISR program at all.

But, right now something is better than nothing, and Chi’Yo, with practically no psychic ability, knows that Sh’P’Po knows it.

“There better not be any more mistakes, I’m putting you on notice, you can be replaced” Chi’Yo lied, Sh’P’Po held back a smile. Chi’Yo continued “it would have been better if there had been an unexplained fire or an explosion, destroying all the evidence, including that P’Ko character, rather than tipping off those, godforsaken, Dr’T’s” to our operations.

“You left out of your report that since this mission failed, most of the surveillance nodes in the T’Bm’s and mining camps have dropped offline. Even our Ol’Tn sensor network took a hit; the remaining modes are practically worthless. It’s going to take us decades to recover. Thanks to your mistake; we’re nearly blind and deaf to what’s going on with the resistance. We could have a repeat of the equal job rights protests and a general strike.” Sh’P’Po’s held back his smile.

Sh’P’Po wanted to say ‘Calm down, there’s no risk of a protest or strike, the resistance isn’t that powerful. We have enough soldiers now to crush them’, but instead quoted another report that he’d read once before. “The Mi’Nr’s are volatile but disciplined; our modeling shows that they won’t strike as long as we don’t press them too far. There’s a small percentage of hotheads, which we could take out with a minimal loss of production, but the models show that if we do, the rest of the Mi’Nr’s will strike. There’s been no open obstruction to our activities so what’s there to worry about?”

Sh’P’Po continued, “As for the U’Te’s they’re so stuck in their day-to-day routine, most can be treated like machines, nothing short of a total collapse of security and public release of our secrets would rile them up.”

Chi’Yo stared at Sh’P’Po as he talked, he felt himself getting hot. He wasn’t breathing, even though Sh’P’Po spoke the truth, he couldn’t let this challenge to his authority go unpunished. Chi’Yo let Sh’P’Po finish and waited, then taking a deep breath, as if he was preparing to leap across the desk and rip Sh’P’Po to pieces.

Chi’Yo glared at Sh’P’Po, waited for the gravity of the situation to sink in. Finally, after a long silence Sh’P’Po fidgeted and Chi’Yo said “I don’t like not knowing what my enemy is up to, it’s not a risk that we can take, it jeopardizes the success of our mission. Do you want to leave reaching O’M to chance, after almost two thousand years? I’m placing you on restriction. You’re excused.” Stunned, Sh’P’Po turned sharply and left Chi’Yo’s office.

Chi’Yo sat back in his chair, Sh’P’Po shouldn’t have been so arrogant; he forgot the situation, and who he was speaking to. The fool should have taken what was going to be a verbal reprimand and let it go, instead, he attempted to minimize the magnitude of his mistake and lecture “Me.”

Let Sh’P’Po stay on restriction for a while and see who steps up from within Sh’P’Po’s organization to fill in the gaps just created by Sh’P’Po’s restriction. A restriction that will last as long as it takes for Sh’P’Po to apologize and show due deference and respect to his superiors.

Chi’Yo couldn’t help but think that this episode will remain in both of their memories as a sign of Chi’Yo’s weakness, he should have had Sh’P’Po executed but given the situation he couldn’t. Chi’Yo will have to break Sh’P’Po or find a replacement.

The report will need to be edited before going to the Commander and Central Council. To avoid blame towards himself, the new report will have to minimize the impact of the failed mission and somehow have a positive twist.

I could say that it was planned to provide the resistance a false sense of confidence and make them open to exploitation.

Chi’Yo wished he could leave the report unedited, place all the blame on Sh’P’Po and execute him, but without a replacement he couldn’t. If he did Chi’Yo would have to step in and perform Sh’P’Po’s role. But this would send a message to the Commander and the Council that his organization is flawed.

Better to do it this way, restricting Sh’P’Po’s is right, Chi’Yo decided to give a few of Sh’P’Po’s responsibilities to an aspiring lieutenant, that would put more pressure on Sh’P’Po and begin prepping a potential replacement.

Chi’Yo’s mistake was not having replacements lined up for all his key people; he resolved not to make this mistake again.

As they been nearing O’M the attitude on Dadr’Ba has changed, it’s improved, but he can’t afford to take any chances. In the long run, they’ll get their surveillance nodes back online, but it shouldn’t matter, they will reach O’M soon.

But he can’t stand not knowing; his desire to be in total control was overpowering, even now the lack of inside knowledge about the resistance was beginning to eat at him.

Chi’Yo called Ol’Tn and made arrangements for a massage and some private entertainment to be discretely delivered to his secret flat in lower Nu’Tn, then got up and left through the back entrance to his office.

Despite the insulation of the eSuit, P’Ko could feel Su’Zi’s warmth as he sat close behind her with his arms around her on the quad, of course, it could have been psychic warmth, P’Ko still had trouble distinguishing his physical senses with his psychic sense.

They weren’t going slowly; P’Ko didn’t think Su’Zi knew how to go slow, she placed in the top three in the quad category in the last race, excellent for her first race using a quad.

So far P’Ko hadn’t managed to make the winners bracket in any of the races he’s entered so far. He still has trouble adjusting to the higher G’s at, the lower levels even while operating a vehicle. The G’s seem to do something to his senses that he hasn’t yet been able to master, to program himself around. But he’s not going to give up; it can’t be much harder than the self-programing, he accomplished when he enhanced his low light vision.

Su’Zi was taking him down to the outer edge of Dadr’Ba. His intellect told him that he’s never been here before, but his psyche was trying to tell him otherwise. It was maddening; he must be confusing it with one of the passages he’d been down during the Run with the Se’Ro’Bs or was he picking up something psychically from Su’Zi?

P’Ko cursed to himself; he hates when he gets like this, all psychically upside down. As if on cue, Su’Zi sent him a reassuring thought. P’Ko took a deep breath, calmed his mind and allowed the G’s to press himself closer to Su’Zi, and she wiggled closer to him and sped the quad down through a dip, squeezing them together even more. Su’Zi interrupted P’Ko’s thought, “Don’t get any ideas for a detour, save that for another time, we’re almost there and the meeting is getting ready to start.”  

They rounded a bend taking a dip, then reversed through a narrow opening that opened up into a wider passage that had an assortment of vehicles aligned down one side. Su’Zi parallel parked the quad and P’Ko dismounted followed by Su’Zi.

They were at the very edge of Dadr’Ba now. P’Ko felt like he was made of lead, especially his arms and legs, he was tempted to go down on all fours, but seeing Su’Zi standing upright, P’Ko fought the impulse. He followed Su’Zi over to a hatch that was smooth against the side of the passage. Su’Zi accessed the hatch; it belonged to an old derelict ship.

P’Ko recognized the model, there were some at Lu’Gs’s yard, it was a transport used to ferry the crew, materials and supplies from Or’Gn’s spaceport to Dadr’Ba. It had to have been one of the last to provide Dadr’Ba and instead of returning to Or’Gn was intentionally impacted into Dadr’Ba. The transports awkward orientation meant that Dadr’Ba was probably rotating, and it must have been traveling at a pretty high velocity at impact and would have had to shoot anchors into Dadr’Ba to prevent it from being flung back out into space.

P’Ko wondered what sort of act of desperation would cause someone to make such a risky maneuver. The hull of the transport would have almost certainly have damaged.

P’Ko didn’t have much time to wonder because, once inside, he was surprised to see a group of people that he hadn’t sensed before entering. He was welcomed by Mi’Ka, who hobbled around much like she did in Ol’Tn at the end of the Run with the Se’Ro’Bs despite the G’s.

Mi’Ka introduced him in a conventional way to the others; it was dark, but P’Ko made out their features well enough. As Mi’Ka introduced them, she told him psychically that the names she was using were not their real names but their codenames. It was very rare for a meeting such as this to occur; the cells within the resistance, as a rule, never met directly. P’Ko sensed that he was the reason the group gathered, this was an interview, an interview that had to be in person.

After the introductions, P’Ko realized that while Mi’Ka was introducing him and distracting him, by providing unspoken psychic commentary. The people he was meeting were examining him, psychically and physically. They were very discreet, and he didn’t realize it was happening until the end of the introductions. When he began receiving psychic thank you’s and congratulations on having passed the “interview.”

P’Ko’s original sense of trickery and violation was soon replaced with awe, operating here at the edge of his capability in the presence of the top echelon of the mining community. P’Ko was surprised to see past the assembled group a telecommunications system set up against the back wall the communications system display was divided into four quadrants, each connected to another location within Dadr’Ba, undoubtedly linked by a PST (Phase Synched Transmission) impossible to tap or monitor without detection.

The gravity of the situation was matched by the G’s of the environment; every step at four G’s was a deliberate effort. P’Ko had never before stood and walked so much in it. As much as he wanted to he couldn’t crawl, not while everyone else stood. After a while, he began to discover subtle tricks to make it easier. He started to like it; he felt like he was on a plateau of solid rock, his muscles straining, were forced into a new calibration, he felt a new strength and stability, feeling like his legs and backbone were solidifying, thickening, becoming carbon-fiber columns.

Taking it all in P’Ko took a deep breath and settled his weight onto a sturdy shipping container near one side, next to Su’Zi as Mi’Ka made her way to the front at the other end of the one-time passenger/cargo hold of the derelict ship.

The group led by Mi’Ka began a heated discussion about what to do about the Prz’Nr’s. P’Ko didn’t at first know what they were talking about, but soon figured out that two of the intruders that had attempted to search his quarters, were Prz’Nr’s held by the CASS, and there were others.  His encounter with them led to the discovery that the CASS was secretly holding Mi’Nr’s Prz’Nr and using them for forced labor.

Shortly after the break-in, clued to their existence, the resistance asked the right questions to the right people, who in turn investigated and at great risk to themselves confirmed their suspicions. Secret Prz’Nr’s are being held in specially designed cells that the CA had been able to seal off from psychic detection with specially energized seals and alloys.

Outside their cells the Prz’Nr’s are made to wear a special gear that blocks psychic transmissions, vests fitted with a destruct mechanism and head gear with communications gear turning the Prz’Nr’s into a living, breathing robot made to follow the CASS’s orders or be killed along with anybody in the vicinity.

To infiltrate the prison, the resistance needed someone that with little in the way of disguises could pass for D’En, has expertise as a mechanic and has psychic abilities, which narrowed the candidates down to a few trusted U’Te’s and P’Ko. P’Ko’s strength and martial art knowledge would allow him to beat any hostile D’En’s or U’Te’s, so P’Ko was the logical choice.

What worried everyone, are the soldiers guarding the Prz’Nrs.