Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (21 page)

[Are you there
babe?] Marin subbed hopelessly to Regan, the Behemoth being a good quarter
orbit distant.

Of course no
answer came and it was with some relief he turned to sweep Leah giggling into
his arms and carried her toward the elevator.

This was a
mission at Regan's request. They were to keep a low profile, to watch Aaron and
his family, and to be ready. There would be little for them to do other than
exercise during the three weeks of travel, especially as they wanted to avoid all
the main passenger recreation areas. However they had judged this running group
as safe since Moriah and Aaron would never join in exercise. For the rest of
the time they would keep mostly to their honeymoon cabin and that would suit
Marin juuust fine.

* * * * *

Chapter Seven

In Maynard's view the plan was simple, requiring
only minimal collateral damage. As usual the Triennial meeting between leadership
delegations would be held in space, and this year it would be in orbit over the
planet Rexis. These inter-planet meetings were always be in orbit as the Rexis
leadership would never allow any visitor from Regis to land in case they
carried with them the ultimate viral weapon. This year would be no exception
however on this occasion the meeting would not eventuate because if all went to
plan the Regis ship would explode on first contact with their counterparts. It
would be a devastating explosion with all of the Regis delegation lost,
including the Senate Leader Darius. There would be little evidence left and
what did remain would burn up on entry into the Rexis atmosphere, all that is,
except a small escape pod carrying a young man on a mission.

Young Perin walked proudly from the Senate
meeting, his head held high and his companions happy to bathe in his glory. The
maiden speech he had just delivered had been moderate yet visionary, serious
yet with humor, gracious yet at the same time challenging to the established
order, and it had been well received.

Croye nearly stumbled in his attempts to
get in front of Perin who had been pointedly ignoring him. Finally, abandoning
all pretence, he positioned himself in front and held them up. "Well, come
on Perin tell us, are you going or not?"

Perin smiled wickedly. "Yes! They
cannot leave me out of the delegation, especially as there will not be another meeting
for three cycles."

"And in that time you may well be the
Senate Leader." Papal cooed, always the sycophant.

Perin gently pushed his friend to the side
and they continued on. "The people will make their choice next cycle
Croye; it may not be that election, perhaps the next but yes, perhaps it will
be my time . . ." His voice trailed off and he hesitated in his steps
causing his friends to draw slightly ahead. They turned together and could tell
he was holding something back.

"Perin, what are you not telling
us?" Papal asked.

"Yes Perin, you're holding out on us,
I can tell."

Perin looked at his friends as if weighing
up the situation, and then grasped their arms pulling them through a door into
a small senate office.

"The Triennial meetings . . ." he
looked at them as if calling on them to guess.

"Yes . . .?" they chorused
together.

He was about to speak then suddenly Perin
seemed to think better of it, annoyed with himself for letting pride get in the
way. "I . . . I can't say anything . . . but something is up, it's going
to be a very special meeting this year, and much will change." And without
another word he ushered them back out into the corridor as they protested at
his unhelpfulness.

* * *

Maynard scowled at the young tech officer
sweating profusely in front of him. The young man's discomfort was obvious and
he knew why. Tech office personnel were practitioners of the dark arts, and
they knew it and on this planet to be even associated with technology was the
kiss of death to a meaningful relationship, especially with a family of
influence. To fall foul of senior leadership, especially someone as senior as
Maynard was something to be avoided at all costs and this man was desperate to
please.

And yet young people such as this one were
continually drawn to dabble in the technology arts, and to learn to master
them. Rarely would such a senior figure as Maynard show an interest in their
work, let alone fund a project and yet here he was in person; and the young
officer was overwhelmed. Siebel mopped his brow again with the cuff of his
garment and tried to simplify his message for the leader.

"The key to delivering the spy program
and the Rexis systems accepting it will be the chip we recovered from those
android remains. Our tests show that it is an identifier, and when activated it
confirms the validity of the source. With this chip we can break through the
technological gates, so to speak, and then your spy program will be received by
them without resistance. We were planning on trying to fool their identifiers,
now with the android remains, we don't need to as we have one."

"So what you are saying is that you
have increased the chances of success?" Maynard still looked irritated and
the young man squirmed.

"Err . . . yes. All we need is the spy
program you mentioned."

"I have it here." And Maynard
held up a data card of sorts, it was something new, nothing the young man
recognized and he leant forward to peer at it closely.

"I'm not sure I've seen a card like
that before, but I'm sure we will be able to access the program on it and
combine the two."

"No - you must construct a device that
will enable the identifier to drop the guards of the Rexis system, and then
separately deliver the spy program."

"It would be far easier . . ."

"No! And further, you must take all
steps to ensure the program is not activated here on Regis. This program must
not be loaded on to any of our systems, understood; make sure it is isolated."

"Then how will we be able to test that
it is operational?"

Maynard smiled. "Siebel, minds far
greater than ours put this together, it will be devastatingly operational. Your
job is simply to make sure it can be delivered without resistance or
discovery."

"Yes sir, it will be a little more
complex but we can have it done in three periods."

"You have two periods, and it must be
done!"

"Two? But . . ."

"Two periods, no more - and report your
progress to me daily." Without another word Maynard turned and stalked
from the room.

Siebel looked at the card long and hard. It
was clearly an early generation. In fact it looked positively ancient. He
turned it in his hands and for some reason couldn't contain an involuntary
shudder.
Hmm, how to contain its contents without interacting with the
office system proper?
  It was time to discuss the matter with his
colleagues, together they might find a solution, and in fact they must.

Maynard proceeded immediately to his next
engagement in engineering on the Regis flight deck. For a society that eschewed
advanced technology the ships arrayed on the deck looked quite advanced although
he pretended disinterest as he passed them, after all, it wouldn't do for a
senior Senate leader to show too much interest in the tools of evil. In truth
he knew the ships were generations behind the technology of Rexis and as a
society they were so far behind their sister planet it didn't bear thinking
about. He allowed himself a brief smile as the thought of the Rexis riches
flitted through his mind and he couldn't resist stroking a hand along the flank
of the final craft before slipping through the doors into engineering and
making for the office of the site manager.

The office was empty as he approached but
before he entered he could hear the sound of footsteps hurrying behind him. Deliberately
he slipped in quickly to expose the manager's lateness and taking a seat he ignored
the man as he darted in the door behind him.

"I am sorry my lord, I knew you would
want the latest update and I personally saw to it." The man sidled around
his desk giving Maynard a wide berth.

Maynard waited a few seconds before leaning
forward and gesturing for him to continue. "And . . . the update is?"

The man leant forward conspiratorially,
"The vessel is primed and ready M'lord. It will perform its function, as
planned, on first contact with the Rexis ship. That should be close enough for
it to appear that the Rexis vessel aggressively triggered the . . . reaction,
and more importantly close enough for the escape pod to be drawn into the planet's
atmosphere."

"Good, good. And the . . . reaction -
it will look like an attack?"

"There will be very little remaining
to suggest otherwise M'lord; it is unlikely anyone on Regis will see it any
other way."

"And the escape pod?"

"Will be dispatched just prior M'lord;
it will appear to be just another piece of debris. Once clear of our ship it is
expected the explosion will assist in propelling it toward the planet."

"Expected? What is your degree of
confidence?"

"Oh - fifty percent at least M'lord."
The man nodded happily.

"Hmm, yes, that will do. At best our
man will get through, at worst we will have reason to attack - I see no
downside." He laughed evilly and the manager joined in with a nervous
titter.

Maynard stood quickly and extended his hand.
The two exchanged a complex handshake except Maynard held the grip and eye
contact several seconds longer than necessary.

"I know M'lord, nothing will ever pass
these lips, of that you can be sure."

"Have the
vessel ready to leave at a moment's notice."

"Yes M'lord,
do we have any idea when they will be leaving?"

"Yes."
Maynard answered, and without elaborating he stalked from the room.

* * *

Control Room: The Behemoth, on the Orion Path, first Portal Exit

They gathered
in the Behemoth control room as it allowed for the extra numbers required in
this briefing. Still, it was only the leadership team, Regan, Ham, Hilary and Charlotte
who had joined them by shuttle, Brian Timu and four of his lieutenants, plus
Bob who had jumped in earlier and who like Hilary chose to manifest in his
avatar form.

Regan chuckled
to herself as she took Bob in, as always the dandy with winkle picker shoes.
His look contrasted sharply with the rugged muscular builds of the soldiers
while Ham's powerful android presence towered over them all.

Regan and
Charlotte exchanged smiling glances, both aware of the testosterone leaking
from every male pore in the room.

[How are you
Charlie?] Regan subbed.

[Hilary and I
are both good, and Jared is excellent.] She laughed, drawing admiring glances
which did not escape her attention. She smiled at Regan. [Do you have that feeling
we could be jumped at any moment?]

[These guys do
tend to spend a lot of time in their own company.] Regan looked across at the
soldiers, noting their sly glances, mainly at Charlotte she observed with
frustration.
Perhaps I'm getting too old,
she reflected
, late
thirties and I'm already over the hill.
At the same moment she turned to
catch Ham's attention and found him standing so close it shocked her. His eyes
were also fixed on the soldiers, his attitude radiating quiet threat.
Don't
even think of looking.
 She smiled to herself and then turned back to the
troops.

"Well
Brian, you seem happy with the plan. The intelligence identifies the key entrance
points - however isn't it true we still have no idea where to find the likely
repository of the genovirus; I understand you have something to add here
Ham?"

"Yes, we
know these people eschew technology, particularly artificial intelligence. However
while we weren't able to confirm it in our reconnaissance, Bob and I did detect
wireless signals and clearly high tech computer activity from one particular building
in the palace; it was this one." He turned and gestured toward the screen
bringing up a visual of the palace. A dark three story building was highlighted
and sprang up in their vision. "Nowhere else is there any evidence of
computer wireless signal or data transfer. These people do not even have
television, can you believe it? They live in something like the dark ages with
mechanical ground and air transport. Communication is by basic wire telephone
or runner, and yet we know they retain the ships that took them there and
happily use them when it suits; and . . ." he paused for effect before
pointing again at the screen, "that building shows every indication they
continue to make use of technology behind closed doors.  The genovirus is most
likely housed there and that is the spot we will make for when we penetrate the
palace."

"And when
you get there?" Regan asked.

"Nuke
it!" Bob responded.

Ham smiled, and
was about to speak when Brian took over.

"Something
like that Bob, but our role will be to empty the building first with a minimum
of injury or loss of life. While doing that we will seek to establish
confirmation of the genovirus presence, or whether it is held elsewhere. Then
we continue the process of occupying the palace with the hope of negotiating
once we have control."

"They will
never negotiate." Bob lamented.

"We will
try Bob." Regan turned to him sympathetically. "We will try to
negotiate first but you can be sure if they will not cooperate we will ensure
they are no threat to Rexis for several generations to come. Brian and his
team, along with Ham will take out this building so that it is rubble. If they
cannot confirm destruction of the genovirus they will also take out the space
port along with the ships. The people of Regis will have no way of reaching
your planet and even if they accomplish that ability in the next few
generations, by then your planet will have repopulated."