Skybreach (The Reach #3) (8 page)

“What happened?” Gault said.

“Every garden has its weeds, Shepherd Gault.  Ours is no different.  They must be uprooted, turfed out before they can spread.  Before they can damage the integrity of what’s around them.”

“What did he want?”

Jozef grimaced.  “Something he could never have.”  He waved at the dead man.  “Clean that up.  Dispose of the body where it won’t be found.”

“Of course, Jozef,” Gault said, peering in at the mess.  He hesitated for a moment at Jozef’s side.

“What is it?”

“The Consortium,” Gault said.  “They’ve allowed the gates of the Reach to be opened once again.  They don’t appear to be backing down.”

“And?”

Gault hesitated.  “What do we do now?”

Jozef wiped his hands carefully on his dark robes, removing the final traces of blood from his fingers.

“We do what we had always planned to do.  We escalate.”

8

“Talia, it’s time.”

She looked up to see Silvestri watching her expectantly from the doorway.

“What?  Already?”

Silvestri nodded.  “It’s been twenty-four hours.”

She pushed the crate of ammunition away and got to her feet.

“It’s hard to keep track of time in this place,” she said, disconcerted.

“You have to be watchful about that,” Silvestri said with a smirk.  “There’s no sunlight inside the Reach.  It tends to throw people off when they first arrive.  Messes up the body clock.”

She followed Silvestri out the door.  “I guess it would.”  She glanced over at him.  There were lines on his face that hadn’t been there a week ago.  Either the workload of coordinating Skybreach was getting to him, or he simply wasn’t getting enough sleep.  Or possibly both. 
“You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You look a bit rough around the edges.”

He grinned.  “Wasn’t I always?”

“Not this rough.”

“I’m fine.  I appreciate the concern, but everything’s under control.”

“How are you adjusting to the new job, anyway?”

“The illustrious Leader of Skybreach?” Silvestri said sarcastically.  “I’m getting there.  There’s a lot to consider, a lot of headaches.  Hopefully things will begin to fall into place after the meeting.”

“Hopefully?”

“I meant ‘assuredly’.”

The same players from the day before had assembled in the meeting room, and as Silvestri and Talia entered,
their conversations faltered and they began to find their places.  Silvestri walked to the head of the room and then turned to face them.

“I trust you’ve all settled in and gotten down to work since we last met.  I’ve managed to see most of you for a one-on-one already, for those I missed out–”

“Right here,” Holger said, hefting a meaty hand into the air.  “What’s the matter?  Am I not good enough for you, Silvestri?”

“You’ve got the easy job,” Iris chided.  “Point and shoot.  You need someone to explain that to you?”

“So why don’t you do the job then, sister?  Let’s see how long your skinny ass holds up against–”

“Focus,” Silvestri said firmly.  “Holger.  Iris.  We don’t have time for fun and games.  Both of you cut it out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Holger said dismissively.  “Keep talking.  I’m listening.”

“We’re going to break this down one task at a time, right from the beginning,” Silvestri began.  “Remember our new timeframe has been cut down to two weeks, so if your plans don’t align with that requirement, I’m going to send you back to the drawing board.”  He consulted a tablet, flicking through several screens, then pointed at Aksel.  “First off, getting to the Atrium.  Aksel, go,” he said, clicking his fingers sharply.

“Okay,” Aksel said, adjusting his spectacles as he glanced around at them.  “I can get into the Consortium security system and configure our IDs for access to the Atrium.  It supersedes the Enforcer security.  No problems there.  I just need to see a couple more people here in Skybreach and get them on file, and then we should be ready to go.  Full access right up to the Atrium.”

“Right, that’s the easy part,” Silvestri said.  “What about the Stormgates?  Did you have any luck there?”

Aksel shook his head.  “Not at this point.  They’re pretty tightly locked down.  I’ve been probing the edges of that system but haven’t gotten through yet.”

“Why don’t you give me access?” Knile suggested.  “I could have a look around in the Consortium system and–”

“No,” Aksel said abruptly.  “I can’t give access to anyone else.”

Knile’s eyes flicked to Silvestri.  “Why not?”

“Because the Consortium network isn’t something amateurs should be messing around in.  You screw something up in there and you could get us both shut down for good. 
Where would that leave us?”

“Amateurs?” Knile said, incredulous.  “Listen, kid, I was hacking networks back when you were still shitting your pants–”

“
Not
the Consortium network,” Aksel insisted.  “That’s where you’re an amateur.”

Knile shrugged.  “I found my way around in there pretty well when I was up in the Infirmary.  Remember the alert Emil told you to create in the system?  I shut that off in a matter of minutes.”  Knile cracked his knuckles theatrically.  “In between slaughtering a couple of the Crimson Shield, as it turns out.”

There was a scattering of chuckles across the room, but Aksel didn’t seem to see the funny side of it.

“You only got into the Consortium network because you got your hands on a Consortium tablet, right?  You were already inside the network to begin with.  You wouldn’t know the first thing about cracking their intrusion prevention systems from outside, would you?  Not like I can.”  He folded his arms across his chest and looked pointedly at Silvestri.  “I’m not giving anyone else access.  End of story.”

“All right,” Silvestri said placatingly.  “The last thing we need is Aksel locked out of the network because someone else
goes stumbling
around in the system.  If that happens, this whole thing will fall into a shambles.  Let’s find another way around the Stormgates.”

“I’ve reversed them in the past,” Knile said.  “Twice, in fact.  There’s no reason why I couldn’t do it again.  The only problem is that the Consortium might figure out something is going on if the Stormgates are left in that configuration for an extended period.”

“Which will most likely be the case if we’re going to get two teams through,” Silvestri said.

“So we need to come up with another way,” Yun said.  “Otherwise we’re going to be left scratching our balls outside the Stormgates like a pack of idiots.”

“Speak for yourself,” Iris said.

“I’m pretty sure he meant you too, Iris,” Holger sneered, rubbing at his crotch mockingly.

“Does anyone have something constructive to say?” Remus said testily.  “If we can’t get through the Stormgates–”

Both Aksel and Knile began to say something over the top of him, then Holger and Iris joined in, and in moments there was a cacophony in the room as everyone tried to talk over everyone else.  Silvestri raised his own voice, calling for order, but no one seemed to be listening.  The volume in the room swelled as others joined the fray, and just as Talia was about to begin screaming at them herself, there was a sound like a thunderclap that brought the argument to a screeching halt.

In the ensuing silence, they all turned as one.  In the corner of the room, Lazarus had gotten to his feet and now stood with his hands pressed together in front of him, as if he were about to dive into a swimming pool.

Talia realised that the tremendous noise that had interrupted them had been the Redman merely clapping his hands together in one sharp, ear-splitting strike.

“My apologies,” he said, lowering his arms, “but this will not do.”

Holger was the first to recover, sticking out his chin indignantly.

“Who the hell is this guy, anyway?” he said, glaring at Lazarus.  “All he’s done up until now is sit around stealing oxygen.  What’s he contributing to this circus?”

Lazarus seemed unperturbed.  “I am Aron Lazarus, once a soldier of the Crimson Shield.”

“Yeah, and what are you now?” Holger said.

“He’s here to help us,” Knile said.  “He knows the Consortium.  He worked for them under the Crimson Shield.”

“Help?  Yes, I can offer help of sorts.  However, I have my own agenda,” Lazarus said with an apologetic glance at Knile.  “I will assist you where I can, but I will not pretend to hold your priorities above my own.”

“What’s your agenda, Lazarus?” Silvestri said.

Lazarus sighed heavily.  “I was cast out of the Crimson Shield some time ago, for indiscretions that I will keep to myself.  When that occurred there were… great injustices served against me by my peers.  They shamed me and tried to destroy me and everything I held dear.”  He looked at Knile again.  “It was cruel and unjust, and innocent people suffered because of it.  In return for that, I would have my vengeance upon them.”

“So you want to kill a bunch of Redmen,” Holger said, shrugging.  “Seems compatible with our plans.”

“There is one among them,” Lazarus said ominously.  “One who wears gold bands across his shoulders.  He is the Dux, what you would call ‘Captain’ of the Crimson Shield.”  His eyes narrowed.  “He must be left to me at all costs.  He was the instigator, the worst transgressor of all, and must be made to pay.”

“That’s all fine,” Iris said, “aside from the part where we can’t get through the Stormgates.  I don’t think you’ll be getting vengeance on anyone, captain or not, if we don’t get past there.”

Lazarus nodded, then dropped his hand and reached into his pocket, extracting what looked like a small golden wafer.  He held it up between his thumb and forefinger for everyone to see.

“I believe I may be able to assist with this matter.”

Yun took a step forward.  “What
is
that?”

“When I left the Crimson Shield, I took my armour with me.  Last week I used it in battle in the Infirmary against my former brothers.”  He looked down at the wafer.  “I extracted this from my armour when the battle was done.  I do not pretend to understand the mechanical wizardry behind it, but I believe that this shard of metal is what allows the Crimson Shield to pass unhindered through the Stormgates.  When it was first given to me, I was required to give a sample of my blood to the Consortium.  I believe this shard is somehow fused with the blood of its owner–”

“Can I see that?” Yun said excitedly.  Lazarus nodded accommodatingly and Yun strode forward, taking the wafer carefully in his hand.  He pulled some sort of viewfinder from h
is pocket and began to scrutinis
e it in detail.  “Let’s see, here… oh wow.  This is nice,
very
nice.  Diamond semiconductor, haven’t seen that in years.  Triple integrity s
tores, rapid access SQP.
  I’d have to study it further, but…”

“What are you thinking, Yun?” Silvestri said.

Yun looked up at Lazarus.  “Do you think perhaps the DNA sequence of the wearer is run through a combinatorial algorithm of sorts and then cross-referenced with a–?”

Lazarus stared at him, a blank expression on his face.

Knile appeared at Lazarus’ side.  “Uh, Lazarus isn’t really the technical type, Yun,” he said with a sheepish grin.  “He’ll take your word for it.”

“What do you have in mind, Yun?” Silvestri said.

Yun put the viewfinder away and held the wafer up into the light.

“If I can figure out exactly how this works, then start fabricating copies, I could use the same algorithm to create one of these for every person in Skybreach.”  He glanced at Lazarus.  “I mean, getting our hands on one of these wafers is
huge
.  No one outside the Consortium would have ever seen one of these before.  If it works, we could get free access through the Stormgates.”

“When will you know for sure?” Silvestri said.

“I’ll get to
work on it when we finish up here.”  Yun frowned.  “I’d need methane and hydrogen plasma to form the diamond material for a start–”

“Save it until you know for sure,” Silvestri said.  “Let’s consider the rest of the plan
,
assuming we can get through the Stormgates.  What’s next?”

“Taking control of the roof,” Knile said.  “Here’s where the real fun begins.”

“Right,” Silvestri said.  “There’s five Redmen stationed there.”

“Well, not just that,” Aksel said.  “If there’s an attack on the roof, the technicians will send a communication up to Habitat One.  Once that happens, they’ll shut the Wire down from the far end, and this mission will be officially over.”

“So we have to take out the Redmen, as well as the techs, before they have a chance to push the alarm button,” Holger said doubtfully.

“That’s a simplification, but yes,” Aksel said.

“Not gonna happen,” Holger said.