Archives of the Frontier Universe: An Assassin's Assignment (14 page)

The woman ran her fingers over the controls, searching for communications feeds and even news stories. And then she stopped at one. “Here,” she said. “According to this report, there was an attack on some of the officials there. This seems to have taken place recently in fact, and as such, there is no information on who led the attack and who—if anyone—was targeted specifically. Apparently, though, authorities are swarming the area, and locking the building down.”

As the rest of his team did not know the specifics on Byruhme’s mission, Meyer decided to use their ignorance to his advantage. “Monitor the situation and keep me informed. My agent should be on her way back soon, and Command wants me to keep trying to reestablish contact with her.” He began walking for the door again. “Send any developments to my office . . . and if you haven’t already, alert the other installations.” He departed for his office once again.

***

Reaching to the air for the final time in his life, the Forcurrian finally collapsed, flopping on the floor. His blood ran all over the marvelous rug underneath him, already spoiling its design and flowing onto the stone. Roszephnye retracted her deadly harpoon from the man’s aortic valve and picked up a decorative throw from a nearby sofa. Cleansing her glass blade, she shook her head condescendingly.

“Not even an apology; how disappointing,” she mused, wiping the harpoon. “Just like the others, bold and conceited . . . entitled even, to the last. Pity, though I doubt either the Court or the Union could’ve found a proper use for you three after two separate betrayals.” She then tilted her head and laughed quietly. “Cannon fodder perhaps.” She shrugged “Oh, well.” Hearing the approaching footsteps of the others in the hotel, she gave a sassy bow to the Forcurrian corpse. “Your business was a pleasure, sir. My master’s going to appreciate your support.”

Rose hurried over to the window she had entered through and leapt out just as the door behind her swung open. “
Get security, now
!” she heard a person yell. Their dramatic orders continued, however, they faded quickly once she had fallen about ten floors down. Still descending rapidly, Rose watched the street grow, as the wind brushed her entire body. She abruptly reached and fired a harpoon, hooking the adjacent building and slowing her drop. She then twisted and fired the second, hooking a balcony just below her. Dropping below the balcony, she retracted the first harpoon and swung to the side, entering a deserted alley. She flipped over another balcony and then grappled a streetlight with both harpoons, slowing as she reached the ground. Her heels finally clicked on the street and she retracted her weapons, already pulling out her glass slate.

Once ensuring no one was around, Rose powered on the glass slate to make the call to her master. Suddenly, her comm. device in her ear established a connection.

“Byruhme, are you finished with the last rep. yet?” asked Captain Meyer quickly, not even offering a salutation.

Rose dropped her arm, which was holding the slate and paced down the alley. “Affirmative, Captain,” she replied, a bit peeved. “I thought you were going to be tied up with duties for a bit. Are you finished already?”

“Not quite,” said the man. “First things first: Is the third representative dead?”

“Yes he is. He just expired about thirty seconds ago, in fact. Why? You didn’t need him, did you?” Hoping the answer would be ‘no,’ Rose turned and glanced back up the side of the Grand Hall.”

“No. Perfect; I was hoping that was over and done with. We’re going to need to speed things up even more. Some new intel has come to light over here. Apparently, that virus you spread to the Court’s systems didn’t prevent them from accessing vital intel.”

Still pacing up until now, Rose paused in place. “What? What’re you talking about? They didn’t find out where you’re stationed, did they?”

“No, as far as we’re aware, they haven’t been able to track us . . . or any of our installations. However, they’re obviously working on that as we speak, and my technicians believe they could assemble the pieces soon.”

Rose tossed her head. “And what do you expect me to do about it? I still have one more target and a code to obtain.”

“I’m not sure as of yet. But I do know we’ll need to bring this to Boss R’s attention—along with everything else. Also, Command . . .” he trailed off suspiciously.

Rose found his tone different from before, worrisome, in fact. “What is it, Captain? What about Command?”

“Uh . . . It’s just funny . . . I contacted Command right after disconnecting with you to update them on the situation. But Colonel Lonng wasn’t the one who answered. One of his assistants did, and she told me he was in a meeting with some of
his
superiors.”

Not finding this at all troublesome, Rose paused and leaned on her right leg. “So what? Even Lonng is sure to have his superiors. He’s only a colonel, and even our generals answer to Fontaine in the end.”

Meyer took an odd breath. “I know; it doesn’t sound unusual, but . . . It was the way his assistant acted, and the fact that if his superiors wanted progress they should allow him to work instead of pulling him into meetings.”

Rose smiled, interested that Meyer was defending Lonng. “I thought that would’ve pleased you; he’d be out of your hair as you wanted.”

“Yes, but honestly, the assistant seemed worried, scared even. Almost as if Lonng faced severe disciplinary action. And she kept beating around the bush when describing their situation regarding the arrival of their superiors.”

As only a handful of visitors could instill fear in Command, Rose at once named the first such figure to pop into her mind. “You don’t think Fontaine paid them a visit himself, do you?”

“I really don’t know what to think. But I’m telling you, there was something up. I could just feel it.” He took another breath. “All I’m suggesting is Lonng is already pressing us to double our efforts. If someone is visiting him because of a lack of progress, he’ll be twice as demanding the next time we speak. He may even relieve me of operational command on your mission.”

Rose’s heart picked up at this. “No, you’re right to be concerned then. We can’t let that happen. The mission will fail. I’ll be forced to either hand over the device or go completely dark. On one hand, the Norvanull’s will be able to proceed with the invasion of Dailunavein. On the other, they’ll grow suspicious and that’ll tighten tensions between them and the Pirate faction.” She thought for a minute, scanning the area for citizens. “We need to just contact Boss R. Set up a conference with him right now and link me in. Hopefully, he’ll be available.”

“Good idea,” he replied.

The captain then went quiet for a moment while setting up the conference. Using the time, Rose moved down the alley and behind an old dumpster, blocking any street-side view. Many of the city’s ambient sounds continued, but were quieter than what she expected from the ground. Holding her glass slate up, she prepared it to connect.

“Okay,” confirmed Meyer. “I’m connecting you.” Rose’s slate gave a verification flash and she held it out to see clearly. An image of Captain Meyer appeared. “I’m placing the transmission to him now.”

A few moments passed as the transmission commenced. For a while, it seemed to be connecting, but no one was around to answer the call. “How long do you usually wait for him to answer?” Rose asked.

“A few minutes. He could be in a meeting himself—”

Suddenly, the call connected, and Boss R’s hooded silhouette appeared. “Yes,” the man opened in a low mumble.

“Sir,” began Meyer. “It’s Captain Meyer, and I’m here with Byruhme again. We have a few developments to share with you.”

“Very well. Let’s make this quick.” He looked to Rose first. “Rose, did you secure the codes you needed?”

“Unfortunately, no,” she replied without reserve. “I confronted the three representatives as planned, but none of them supplied the code. It is my theory that they perhaps didn’t have it on hand. That or each of them was willing to die for it. The good news is we are now three traitors fewer,” she tacked on proudly.

Boss R grumbled. “You shouldn’t have executed them if they knew where the code was!” he affirmed sternly. “Now, how are you supposed to access the spike?”

“Oh, I wasn’t finished,” insisted Rose, holding a hand up. “One of them provided the ‘location’ of the code before he died . . . or rather the custodian.” She gave a purposeful, guilty smile to Meyer and then looked back to her master. “This leader of theirs, the one you planned to target next . . .”

“He has the code?” assumed the indistinct man.

“Yes, SHE has the code,” corrected Rose.

“The third Eiltheen representative was not a woman to my knowledge,” said the boss quickly. “And that was never reported before.”

“Honestly, sir, I don’t believe their genders were disclosed,” Meyer put. “When our people first met with them, according to the records, they met with three men. However, they were heavily clothed to hide their identity . . . much, uh, like yourself, sir,” he crept. “Anyways, it could’ve been a woman, and there’s no way to tell now.”

“At any rate,” Rose pressed, “we already know her identity, and you’re not going to believe this: I was . . . sort of in a different meeting with her just a little while ago.” Boss R intensified his gaze, his interest obviously acutely piqued. “I had to break into Kelrundum’s office to get the intel on the reps. However, he and this leader actually came by there for a brief meeting. I was not compromised, but was able to get a little information on this woman’s stance on the war. And aid for Dailunavein in particular.”

Meyer sort of laughed. “Or her reluctance, anyway.”

Ignoring him, Rose continued. “Her name is Hiellta Silatine. She’s a councilor of Florenial and also a representative . . . Oh, and a posteritor.”

“Is that so?” asked Boss R, sounding even more intrigued. “So you think she has the code?”

“Affirmative. Got it straight from the mouth of her subordinate. He named her as a traitor herself and seemed to be glad to do so. Apparently, he and the other two were considering betraying her after us. Couldn’t stomach her ambitions, I guess.”

“Yes,” agreed Meyer. “And what we need to know is what do we do. Posteritor Byruhme believes you may wish to handle her in a specific manner, hence our decision to not engage her. However, other developments have occurred.”

The captain spent the next couple of minutes explaining Colonel Lonng’s demands and then absence earlier. After that, Boss R took a strong breath.

“It couldn’t be Fontaine. He’s supposedly on a mission to the world Hybakkuk.” He then thought for a time, glancing to the floor. “Perhaps we should give Command what they want. It’ll buy us some time. Rose, return to Meyer’s installation and hand the device over for analyzing. Meyer, your people won’t be able to access its contents, in which time, Rose can track down this Posteritor Silatine and obtain the code. Afterwards, she’ll bring it back, download the necessary intel, and then delete the rest.”

For a split second, Rose froze, but then dropped her mouth open. “Wait! You want me to give it to Command? And then what if they take it away . . . to their own cryptographers? That was Lonng’s plan all along.”

Boss R shook his head. “He won’t be able to pick it up for at least a day or two. And he’ll certainly not allow it to be moved from Meyer’s installation except by his own people. The man has too little faith in anyone but his own people now. He’ll order you to work on it, Meyer, while a detachment of his choosing comes to retrieve it. In the meantime, it gives us one more day to find Hiellta, take the code, and destroy her.”

Rose tilted her head, sort of surprised. “So, you
do
want her eliminated?” she asked, but in a voice of proclamation.

“For the time being, I see no reason to allow this loose end to twist in the wind. Especially as our efforts up until now have been to tie off the others. If you come across any other relevant intel, or if I do, I may amend the order. But for now, it stands. I’ll do some digging on my end to try and locate her quarters. You should be able to strike at her by this time tomorrow.”

Rose and Meyer bowed. Boss R took a few more minutes to exchange intel before finally disconnecting. When all was said and done, Rose slipped out of the alley, grabbed a transport, and returned to base.

After returning to base and finally handing off the memory spike, Roszephnye had provided one last report and headed back to her hotel. She gratefully slept the rest of the night away, rising only a few hours before midday. Captain Meyer had already received orders from her master to assist in locating Hiellta Silatine, so Rose had set out to hit the Grand Hall again. Finding intel on the woman proved trivial after accessing similar information on her subordinates the previous day. As such, only a few hours had passed after Rose retrieved the intel—stating Hiellta’s quarters, but also that she would be in meetings until the late evening—and so she took to helping the Union monitor the Court’s activities from the inside.

That activity too, however, had passed. Having returned once again to her room, Rose was now in the middle of changing into a second set of clothes for the day. Another fine skirt, set of heels, and flared shirt was set out and ready for her to slip into. But she remained in the bathroom, applying makeup, dressed only in flirty undergarments. Brushing over her face for the last time, she stowed her cosmetics and began putting her hair up . . . when suddenly, she caught a glimpse of something standing in the bathroom doorway!

Rose turned her head swiftly towards the intruder, readying to punch and kick them to death. But it was not a person. It was that stupid bird! Standing on two feet with its head pointed up and directly at her half-naked body, the bird just observed her and cocked its head.

“UGH!” she squealed, throwing an arm over her ample chest. “How dare you! Get out, you pest!” She trotted over to the creature, aiming one thin and nail-polished foot at it. But it moved just in time, flying onto her bed. “Oh, you disgust me!” she growled, slamming the bathroom door. “This is privacy time! I’ll talk when I’m done!”

Rose huffed and dropped her arm from her chest, though it was not completely exposed in the first place. She rushed over to the sink, still drawing sharp breaths in anger. “Stupid bird!” she cursed. Having dropped the first because of the surprise, she grabbed another hairpin from the counter.
He better not be able to see me through that thing’s eyes
! she ranted internally. Tying her hair at high speed, Rose completed her preparation a minute later. Looking over her flawless skin, she noticed that her face and neck were finally reverting to their natural lightly-tanned complexion—after having flushed red. She took a quick breath and cracked the door.

The first thing into view was the meddling bird, perched directly upon her new clothes. “Get off of that!” Rose commanded. Pointing at it threateningly, she cast a telekinetic power. The creature was thrown into the air and back, before finally landing back on the bed. “Now, turn around.” Unexpectedly, it obeyed, turning. Using the opportunity, the woman made a break for her outfit, snatched it up, and ran back into the bathroom. She shut the door at once.

The nerve of that thing
! Rose dressed as quickly as she could and before exiting again, put her professional-style glasses back on. She walked out, eyeing the creature cruelly. “‘You’ need to stop showing up uninvited!” she affirmed. And then she began mumbling to herself. “What is space is he thinking?” she asked aimlessly. “Does he even know what this thing’s up to half the time?” She opened the flared sleeves of her shirt and fastened her essential harpoon blades to her arms. Then she tied her belt and dual swords around her waist. Finally, she smoothed her clothes out and glared at the bird. “Okay, see! NOW, I’m ready.”

Acting as if oblivious to its own offense, the energy-based familiar just stared back.

Rose put her arms out impatiently. “Connect me please!” she ordered.

The creature jumped slightly and then immediately conjured the misty display of her master. Wearing his usual identity-shrouding cloak, the man lifted his chin a tad upon seeing Rose.

“Good! I see you’re ready to begin,” he opened. Rose could not know for sure, but it seemed he ascertained this by noticing her sheathed arkanverres. “Captain Meyer has already filled me in on most of your activities today. According to him, you’ve been very helpful.”

Rose smiled smugly, pleased in her reputation. “Grace and efficiency are what you should’ve come to expect from me.”

“Right,” the man returned, nodding. “And it’s also thanks to you that we now have a location on Hiellta Silatine’s quarters. Well done with that as well.” His image sort of dimmed and even became unclear at times, making her believe his attention was divided.

“Everything well on your end?” she asked.

“As much as can be expected,” he replied dryly.

“Well, I wanted to ask before but it slipped my mind . . .” She stared to the bird conspicuously. “Your familiar, can you see what it does?”

The man paused oddly. If she could see it properly, Rose figured his face would display some sort of confused clench. “What’s it doing?” he asked, sounding as confused as the face she imagined.

“No. I mean, can you see what ‘it’ sees?”

“No. I can only see those it visits.”

Though she felt relieved to hear this, Rose nodded quickly and shot an incriminating look at the creature. “Well, I don’t know if you created it to do so, but this bird acts very . . . strange. I didn’t even know it was in here earlier and it was watching me dress! Not to mention every time I
do
see it appear it scares the hell out of me!”

As was expected, the man seemed to have no emotional reaction to her report at all. Like always, he just stood and stared out of the darkness of his hood. “Parafamiliars
are
created by posteritors,” he put, in a tone of near fatigue, “but the exact machinations of their . . . personalities, I suppose, are not always under our control.” Rose stared at him, passively implying that his answer was not solving the problem. “I suggest you get used to it,” he added. “We stand to reap many more benefits from communicating via familiar than we do to lose. Your . . . discomfort is noted, but not a priority.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Right, whatever,” she expressed.

“Now, what
is
a priority is my next assignment for you,” the man continued.

Quite ready to confront Hiellta and secure the code, Rose turned back to her master eagerly. “Indeed. Now that I have the intel on her location, it’ll just be a matter of me traveling back to the Grand Hall. If she has the code—”

“Hold on, Rose,” interrupted the man. “You’re not engaging the councilor yet.” Rose tilted her head, genuinely surprised. “I have another task for you. It won’t take long, and after it’s done, you can proceed to eliminate the Eiltheen.”

“Very well,” she replied, shifting her weight. “Where am I going now?”

“I provided Captain Meyer with the coordinates you need. He’ll be on comm. with you for the majority of the task. Contact him when we’re through.”

Rose nodded. “Of course.”

“You’re heading for a landing zone near one of Forcurrier’s large parks. I’ve been tipped off that Grandmaster Meirthealy is on her way to Forcurrier to attend the Court session scheduled soon. The one regarding Dailunavein. I believe Justice Kelrundum himself is meeting her there soon. On your time, it will be late this evening. I want you to run reconnaissance and pick up anything you can from them. With the park being nearby, they might choose to walk through it . . . guarded of course, so you’ll have to be careful.”

Rose laughed at this. “I think Meirthealy is more of what I should be worried about, not their lackeys.” Her master just stared, and she nodded, receiving his message. “But, yes, yes, I understand. I’ll be cautious.”

“See that you do.”

“Right. Is there anything that I need to listen out for specifically? Just news on Dailunavein? Don’t tell me you want to hit ‘her’ as well.” For the first time in a while, Rose’s heart grew downright fearful.

“No. Though the assassination of Meirthealy could lead to great strides in the future, she might still be useful. At the least as another competitor for the Norvanulls.” He shook his head. “No, I want you to gather what information you can on Dailunavein. Kelrundum will likely discuss sensitive information with her. Furthermore, I want to have a set of physical eyes on the woman. It’s good to keep tabs on such a queen piece.”

Rose tilted her head in agreement. “No kidding.”

“And we can also asses what our effectiveness was on Atlantis a few weeks ago. No doubt she’ll bring up her pitiful struggle with our grand fleets.”

“Yes, it’s a shame that General Morgan pulled those fleets out. From what I hear, if he had concentrated efforts a little more acutely, we’d have overthrown the capital and captured the grand chief.”

Her master grumbled as if agreeing with the unfortunate outcome. “Yes, well, it was Fontaine who ordered the fleets to retreat. He destroyed Posteritor Reed and decided that was enough.”

At the very mention of the posteritor’s name, Rose felt a powerful tinge of regret. She refused to comment on the subject and looked away in pain. Perhaps her master detected her conflict, as he changed the subject shortly afterwards.

“At any rate, it was Fontaine’s call. And now his attention is focused exclusively on Dailunavein. So, contact Meyer, retrieve the coordinates, and head them off. When you at least have confirmation of Meirthealy’s arrival, let me know.”

Rose bowed, and her master faded away. Immediately, she looked to the red bird. “Don’t you let me catch you sneaking peeks at me again. Do you understand?”

Like it always did, the bird tilted its head, probably in bewilderment. Then it conjured another wavy portal and hopped in. Shaking her own head in prevailing intolerance, Rose adjusted her dress and placed a call to Captain Meyer.

***

About half an hour later, Roszephnye arrived right outside the LZ, which was allegedly where Meirthealy would land. The sun was already setting, with none of it even visible below the horizon, and the sky was darkening fast. A few ships landed on occasion, but none had yet to be the grandmaster’s. Luckily for Rose, though, the LZ was built a good ways inside of the park. She kept to the many shady trees on the perimeter, waiting.

“I take it from the sounds of starships you’ve arrived,” said Meyer. The man had been quiet for the last few minutes, allowing Rose to sneak through the park with concentration.

“Affirmative,” she replied. “I’m holding position on the wooded perimeter. No one should be able to see me from here, but . . .” she trailed off, leaning. The view was less than adequate. “It looks like I’ll not be able to see much either. They’re pretty far . . . or will be anyways.”

“Wait, you didn’t bring some sort of spyglass?” asked Meyer, sounding stunned. He laughed. “I feel like that would’ve been the first thing you grabbed for a recon op.”

Rose tilted her head satirically. “Yes, well, that wasn’t exactly on my mind as I left. I was a bit preoccupied by Boss R’s bird.”

Meyer laughed again. “Why don’t you just tell him to communicate with you in a more conventional way? You’ve got a device for that.”

Deciding she needed a better look than the ground could provide, Rose quickly kicked off her heels and jumped into the crisscrossing branches. “Okay, I’m going to try to get a better angle,” she said. “And he claims that communicating via familiar is more secure.” She inched across the thick branch and pushed through the leaves.

“Is it?” asked Meyer. But then he continued. “Well, I guess it is, but our security has improved dramatically since yesterday. You should be safe using the device.”

“Tell that to
him
,” put Rose, opening a viewpoint. Looking out over the LZ, she could see more clearly, but still not in meaningful detail. Also, it appeared there were still no Atlantean transports on approach. “I still really can’t see anything from here, but because the target is Meirthealy, I also can’t get too close to her or she might sense me.”

“Can she do that?”

“You’d be surprised. She’s much more powerful than she looks.” Rose thought for a minute. Over to the right was a watchtower. If she could grab a spyglass from it, she could keep up with Meirthealy more easily. “I need to be able to at least see her. Maybe she’ll leave the spaceport. If she does, I can just pursue her.” Without even waiting for Meyer’s input, she walked back across the branch and jumped back to the ground. She slipped into her shoes quickly and started for the tower.

“Are you going to be able to get closer? I’m not sure how tight security will be but I’d imagine . . . very. Both the grandmaster of the posteritors and the executive justice will be there.”

“I’m already on it,” said Rose. “I’m heading to one of the flanking watchtowers to ‘borrow’ a spyglass. It’s not far, and it’s on the edge of the trees. This should be no problem.

Rose hurried through the wood-line towards the watchtower. Night was approaching very quickly, and now only the final dim shine of the sun lit the edge of the sky. Reaching the tower, she fired a harpoon up and ascended.

Roszephnye finally landed on the lower walkway of the tower and retracted her harpoon. She tiptoed quickly and quietly along the walkway, heading for the nearest staircase. “Alright, I’m on the tower,” she reported. “I didn’t see any guards from the ground, but the very top—where they’d surely be—wasn’t visible.”