Skybreach (The Reach #3) (9 page)

“Not so fast,” Silvestri said.  “This is why we’re using two teams on this mission.  Team Alpha goes through the Stormgates first, disguised as passengers.  Assuming Yun’s chips work correctly, the Redmen won’t realise that anything untoward is happening.  The team will pass through the Stormgates as if they were in possession of legitimate passkeys.”

“Until they get to the railcar,” Knile said.  “When it becomes obvious that they
don’t
have legit passkeys, they won’t be able to proceed any further.”

“They won’t have to,” Silvestri said.  “They’ll already be behind the Redmen.”

“Once we’re there, we just have to figure out how to take out the Consortium comms,” Iris said.  “Otherwise the techs will contact Habitat One about the attack.”

“If I can get access to the comms units,” Yun said thoughtfully, “I could probably disable them.  It will take some time, though.”

“Time we don’t have,” Silvestri said.  “And I doubt they’re going to stand aside while you rummage around in their gear.”

Knile rubbed at his chin.  “How about an EMP?”

Iris shot him a curious glare.  “EMP?”

“Yeah, an electromagnetic pulse,” Knile said.  “That’s probably the quickest way to get the job done.”

“It’s old school,” Yun said, “but it just might work.
  Where are we going to get one?”

“I can put one together myself,” Knile said.
 
“Should be able to source the parts right here in Gaslight.”

“Can you build one with a limited range?” Yun said.
 
“We don’t want to cook everything on the roof
.  We won’t be able to launch if that happens.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Knile said.

“So, after the EMP,
Team Omega follows through, packing the heavy artillery,” Silvestri said.  “We’ll have the Redmen sandwiched on the roof.  That will give us the best chance of overpowering them.”

“My brawlers don’t have the firepower,” Holger said, shaking his head.  “Not to take five Redmen head on.”

“What about the RECS?” Remus said excitedly.  “I’m pretty sure I know how to locate them–”

“We went over this last month, Remus,” Silvestri said, sighing wearily.  “Emil told you not to bring it up again, didn’t he?
”

Remus shrugged.  “Well, we’re under new management now, so I thought I’d give it a shot.”

“If those things even still exist, they’re not going to be functional,” Silvestri said.  “They’re a waste of time, and right now time is in short supply.”

“Am I missing something here?” Knile said.  “What are these RECS?”

“Old defensive systems,” Remus said, his eyes shining passionately.  “Every space elevator installation had them, back in the old days.  They were superseded, sure, but I think we could–”

“No,” Silvestri said, and there was a note of finality in his voice.  “We’re not going down that path.  Holger and his men will do the job, right?”  He stared pointedly at the brawler.

“Yeah,” Holger said after a moment.  “We’ll do the job.”

“So when we reactivate basic comms on the roof,
keeping audio and video feeds disabled,” Silvestri said.  “We tell the habitat there’s been a malfunction with those systems.  After that,
what’s our play?”

“As long as we have the launch codes,” Aksel said, “Habitat One won’t know the difference.  We just tell them there was a power outage and that
only basic systems came back online.”

“Can you get the launch codes?” Silvestri said.

Aksel nodded.  “Yeah
, no problem.”

“So we all get on board?  Is that the idea?”
Holger said.

“No, there’s not enough seats aboard the railcar for everyone to fit in,” Silvestri said.

“So who goes up first?” Knile said.

“The brawlers and anyone else who can fight,” Silvestri replied.  “They’re going to have to get through the Redmen once they reach Habitat One.”  He turned to Lazarus.  “Can you tell us how many of the Crimson Shield are stationed there?”

Lazarus shook his head.  “It has been many years since I saw the habitat.  I could not say with any certainty.”

“So we’re going up there blind,” Holger said, disgusted.  He gestured to Aksel.  “Can’t boy wonder here tell us something about it?”

“I haven’t been able to hack that far into the system,” Aksel
said.  “Yet.”

“We don’t necessarily have to outgun them,” Iris said.  “If we can take Consortium employees hostage we could possibly force them to lay down their arms.”

“Wait a minute,” Talia said.  “Taking hostages?  These are innocent people you’re talking about here.”

“We want to do this bloodless if we can,” Silvestri assured her.  “But we also have to be prepared for the possibility that it might not go down as cleanly as that.”

“Get with the program, sugar
pie,” Holger drawled.  “The Consortium are the bad guys.  Who cares if they end up with a few paper cuts?”

“It’s not as simple as that,” Talia said.

“The skin of the habitat is very thin,” Lazarus said thoughtfully.  “Delicate.  There are no firearms permitted there, even by the Crimson Shield.  If you were to brandish your weapons there, you could effectively hold the entire habitat hostage.  One well placed round might cause a catastrophic explosion.”

“It’s a possibility, but we don’t want to destroy the entire habitat,” Silvestri said.  “No one wins if that happens.  Our aim is to force the Consortium to relinquish control of the Wire, that’s all.”

“How does that work, exactly?” Knile said.  “Are we just expecting them to stand aside while we do our thing?”

“We’re going to demand that the Consortium personnel vacate Habitat One,” Silvestri said, “at which point we’ll assume full control of the Wire.  After that we’ll officially begin Stage Two of Skybreach.  That involves implementing a system where random citizens are chosen to travel up the Wire instead of those with the most creds in their pockets.  There is a cruiser waiting to take refugees out to Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn.  I can contact the captain using the comms aboard the habitat.
”

“How many are you hoping to fit aboard?” Knile said.

“The
cruiser will be the first of many.  They’re rebuilding an aging society there and need young immigrants.  We’ll hopefully establish a steady stream of refugees.
”

“Damn,” Holger said, scrubbing his face.  “This seemed a lot easier when there was fifty of us working on it.”

“And when we had a few months up our sleeves to prepare,” Remus added.

“None of us are under any illusions that this is going to be a cinch
,” Silvestri said.  “There’s a good reason why no one has ever overthrown the Consortium system before – it’s a tough nut to crack.”  He looked around the room.  “But we can do it.  I know we can.”

Talia couldn’t help but feel daunted by the enormity of the plan that Silvestri had laid out.  Now that she understood the ramifications of what they were attempting, the endgame seemed distant, the mountain
before them
almost insurmountable.  Looking around the room, she could see that the others were struggling with similar realisations.  There was a very long and complicated chain of events that needed to fall into place perfectly for this plan to come off, and they all knew it.

But what other choice was there?  They had to push forward.

“I agree with Silvestri,” Talia said, gathering her courage.  “We can do this.”

Knile looked at her and smiled approvingly.  He gave her a little nod of appreciation.

Silvestri held his hand out toward the door.  “Then let’s begin.”

9

“Hey, asshole.”

Aksel faltered as he left the meeting room, scowling, and turned to see Roman standing in the corridor.  He was leaning on the wall casually with his arms folded across his chest, a supercilious expression on his face.

“What?” Aksel said incredulously, as if it were inconceivable that he should be addressed in such a fashion.

“You heard me,” Roman said.

Aksel turned to face him.  “What’s your problem, kid?”

“‘Kid’?” Roman scoffed.  “That’s rich.  You’re practically the same age as I am.”

“Not really.”  Aksel glanced behind him as the others from the meeting trailed off to see to their duties.  “What do you want, Roman?” he said impatiently.

“I want to know why you’re being such a dick.”

Aksel rolled his eyes and began to walk away.

“Get out of my face.”

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Roman said, following close behind.

“No, you’re actually just spouting garbage at me.  I don’t have time for that.”

“Who do you think you are, anyway?” Roman said.

Aksel rounded on him suddenly, eyes blazing.  “Who do I think
I
am?  I’m the guy who happens to be the lynchpin of this entire operation, that’s who.  Who the fuck are
you?
”

Roman was somewhat taken aback.  The Aksel he’d first met out in Link had been a shy, retiring young man, edgy and unsure of himself.  It seemed something had changed in the week since, something that had chipped away at that uncertain exterior, revealing
the rawness beneath.

It was only natural, Roman figured.  He should have been expecting this.  The attack on Skybreach by Capper and his men must have been a harrowing experience.  Talia had told him as much.

“I’m doing my part,” Roman said, attempting to recover his poise.

“Yeah, and what’s that?  Scrubbing the damn toilets?”

“Not exactly.  I wired up half the surveillance room, as it turns out.  It was a mess until I got to it.”

Aksel scoffed, turning and continuing on his way.  “As if there aren’t a dozen people here who could have done that job.”

Roman followed after him, and they entered a small room where a pile of dishevelled blankets lay in one corner and a couple of scratched terminals sat on the floor nearby.

“Everyone was busy doing other things.  It wouldn’t have been done if I hadn’t taken ownership of it.”

“Look,” Aksel said, turning back to Roman.  “I have a shitload of work in front of me that needs to be done yesterday.”  He pointed down at the terminals.  “I’ve been living in this corner since we got here.  You know why?  Because the work that I’m doing can’t be done by anyone else.  It’s up to me.  If I don’t get it right, this whole thing falls over.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Huh?”

Roman glanced at the doorway, as if worried that he might be overheard.

“The things you know are pretty unique, man.  I mean, hacking the Consortium network… as far as we know, that’s never been done before.”

“It hasn’t.”

“And you just admitted you have more work on your plate than you can handle.  So why are you keeping this knowledge to yourself?”

Aksel smiled sourly.  “Oh, I get it.  You want to cut my lunch.”

“What?”

“You’ve seen the way people look at me, and you’re jealous.  You want a share of the attention.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Roman spat.

“No, that’s it, isn’t it?” Aksel goaded, grinning, evidently enjoying having the upper hand.  “You want me to hand over my knowledge to you so that you’ll finally start getting some respect around here.”

“I don’t give a shit about respect.”

“No?”

“No.  I was going to suggest that Knile should be the one you bring into the fold.  The guy is a pro, man.  He’d pick it up quick, and after that you’d effectively cut your workload in half.”

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell people this, but the answer is no.  I don’t want anyone else digging around in my system and screwing things up.”

“That’s a bullshit answer, and you know it.”

Aksel stepped forward suddenly, his eyes intense.

“I know what it’s like for you, Roman,” he said fervently.  “I know what it’s like to be a nobody.”

Roman inadvertently edged away from him.  “What are you talking about?”

“All of your life you’ve lived in the shadow other people, haven’t you? 
Better
people.”

“The crap that comes out of your mouth–”

“You wish that you were someone like Knile, someone people looked up to, but… you’re just
not.
  You’re a nobody and that burns you up inside.”

“Yeah.  Thanks
for
the psychoanalysis, man.  I feel much better now.”

“Do you want to know how I recognised that?”  Aksel tapped his finger on his chest.  “Because I was there once.  Just a year or two ago, that was me.  My life was going nowhere.  I had a job one day a week stocking cans in a convenience store
in Gaslight
.  I wasn’t good at anything, and no one respected me.  I
hated
myself.  But I pulled myself together, worked hard, took chances.  I found something I was good at, something that no one else could do.”  He eased back slightly.  “You can think what you want about my reasons for keeping my knowledge to myself.  Maybe I
do
want to keep this stuff secret, make myself indispensable.  That’s none of your goddamn business if I do.”  He raised his finger and pointed it at Roman’s chest.  “The question is, what have
you
done around here to earn anyone’s respect?”