Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Turmoil (32 page)

Web did nothing, so
she stepped up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him,
holding it much longer than she really needed to.

Velk sat in his
chair staring at Tana Starr.  She was supposed to be a Priman; idealistic,
honorable, with convictions and resolve.  Instead, she had become just like the
humans they'd been sent to fight against.  Worse, actually, because while many
of the humans he's fought had done so bravely and with honor, Starr had sunk
several levels below that.  She was a schemer, backstabber, unworthy of the
Priman heritage.

"You think I'm
such a monster," Starr said from her chair.  "I can see it on your
face."

"You are
right," Velk said softly, angrily.  "If this is what our people are
destined to become, we are no better than the humanoids.  We are supposed to be
an example of how to be better, Tana Starr, of how an evolved people should
be.  We would have brought them under our wings again and showed them how to be
their best, and we could have done it as benefactors, not conquering overlords. 
Granted, we expected a much easier time of it, but if the Commander kills all
of them in order to win, what was the point in returning?  If this is our path,
we don't deserve to win."

"Our path is to
rule, of course," Starr said, though Velk got the impression it was a rote
response and not necessarily her own words.

"Answer me
this, Tana Starr," Velk commanded.  "Think about the philosopher I
was talking about earlier.  If you had to live your life over and over, and
make these decisions and choose these loyalties and walk this path you've set
yourself on, would it be a blessing or a curse?"

Starr said nothing,
though it was plain the drug was still working.  She clenched her jaw, then
looked at Velk.  "Is that a rhetorical question?"

"Why do you
ask?"

"Because if it
isn't, then you want me to answer, and I don't think I want to know what I'd
say."

"All
done," Halley said with rising spirits.  "You need to go.  I'll make
sure Tana Starr gets taken in by the authorities; you need to take Velk and hide
him.  Hide him from everyone, even me, because you know by now that everything
I see will be passed on."

"What will your
superiors do about this?" Loren asked.  "Stashing Velk, sending us
off like this?"

"They've all
done field ops," she replied.  "They'll look at this and realize the
same thing we do, Loren.  There's a lot of evidence against Senator Dennix, but
a lot of that is circumstantially tied to the words of an enemy agent.  What we
have is pretty damning, but it's not nearly enough to take action against him,
not now with all the allies he has.  They'll keep a lid on it; they know how to
build a case and manage a crisis.  This will be so secret they won't even have
a code word for it.  But the important thing, the crucial thing to remember here,
is that my superiors, all of us in fact, serve the Confederation, not the
Senator or even the Governing Committee.  We'll get this to the right people
eventually.  But I can't know where Velk is, and so I can't know where you are,
not now at least.  He's safe this way."

"But who will
we go to?" Loren asked.  "If the Senator is corrupt, what about the
Governing Committee?"

"Then we'll
find someone else," Halley replied.

"What if
everyone is corrupt?" Loren asked softly, a sinking feeling setting in.

"Then I fear
for the Confederation."  She searched for something to offer.  "Look,
there will be somebody that can help us.  But we need to build a better case,
so this needs to stay quiet for a while.  We'll find the right person, and we
can even take it to the public if we run out of options.  But right now, you
need to go."

"What about
your leg?" Loren questioned.

"I have the
nanites clotting the blood and dulling my pain receptors.  I'll be fine until I
can get to a medical facility."

"And you're
just going to wait for law enforcement to show up?" asked Loren.

"Actually,"
said Halley with a dry grin, "there
’
s
been a change of plans.  I'm going to walk right out the front door before the
police arrive."  She looked at their surprised faces and continued. 
"If I get brought in, I'll be required to make a report, and everyone will
know about Starr and your part in finding her.  Connect her to Velk and the
breakout, and it will take about three minutes before somebody asks where you
four are and if you have Velk.  You don't need to go AWOL here; you'll figure
out something.  But the only way to get the time to do that is if everyone
still thinks we're looking for him."

Web filled in the
story.  "So, you call the police and tell them Starr is here.  They take
her into custody and everyone assumes we're all out still on Velk's
trail?"

"That's the
plan."

"As far as
plans go," Web offered, "I suppose it could be worse."

"Unless the
Senator finds out and changes your plans," Loren said darkly.

"I've already
called my superiors.  A full squad of SAR troops will conveniently arrive at
the same time as the police and offer to provide security.  Nothing will happen
to Ms. Starr."

"And it might
be some time before we see you again," Loren said, more a statement than
question.

"If we want to
guarantee security for you, then yes," she replied.

Loren nodded,
already trying to figure out what to do.  "In that case, I'd better let
Web say his goodbyes.  I'll give Cory a call in, too.  Let's say two minutes,
ok?"

Halley agreed.

Halley and Web's
goodbye was private, but that wasn't Loren's concern at the moment.  He needed
to hide Velk and themselves from, well, everyone.  They couldn't just stay on
Delos forever, either; what Loren really needed was a place to drop Velk into
and be able to leave him so they could get back to Avenger and carry on. 
Nobody could know what they were doing.  It was already giving him heartburn as
he realized he was going to have to lie to almost everyone, perhaps even the
captain, if Elco was to stay blameless.  Loren didn't want his subordinates to
feel like they needed to follow his increasingly troubled path.  He couldn't
take the Priman back to Avenger, because as much as Elco would try to protect
them, he couldn't disobey an order to return the man and that would only put
the captain in a very unpleasant position.  He felt like a fugitive from his
own people, but by the time they'd marched Velk upstairs to the roof, given
Halley one final wave, and shoved their prisoner inside the hovercar, Loren had
a plan.

Loren sat in the
rear seat, with Velk in the middle and Web on the other side.  Merritt and Cory
sat up front. 

"Where to,
Commander?" Cory asked  conversationally. 

"I'll tell you
in a minute," Loren replied.  "Just keep on busy streets for now, but
don't leave the city."

He pulled out his
personal comm device and entered a contact he'd memorized.  The icon only spun
for a few seconds before the screen activated, showing the recipient of the
call.

"Commander
Stone," said the man in a friendly manner.  The face was slightly
different than he remembered, Loren noticed; probably one of those quick-apply
face masks used to distort and alter features and protect his identity.

"Catch you
working, Mr. Drayven?" Loren asked, brushing his chin theatrically.

"I am in fact
on the job, Commander," Garrett replied lightly, "but I can spare
some time for you.  Are you looking for my relocation services or something
more, oh,
subversive
, let's say."

"Definitely
subversive, Garrett," Loren said seriously, and when the other man just
nodded for him to continue, Loren pressed on.  "We're on Delos and need a
place to lie low.  No, I'm not in trouble with the law or running from my
bookie.  But without letting too much slip, I need to find a place to cool my
jets for a while.  I thought you'd be able to find a place."

"You're not
looking for a hotel or rental," Garrett stated.  "You want a
safehouse."

"Yes."

Garrett sighed. 
"How big does it have to be?  I suppose you don't need to tell me too much
detail, but you don't work alone, Loren.  Will a single bedroom do, or do you
need more?"

Loren just
chuckled.  "Two would be sufficient."

"You also
realize you're asking me to burn one of my own safehouses.  I suppose Confed
will be good for the bill?"

"In time,"
Loren said with a slight wince.  "Once they find out.  For now, I'll have
to cough up the down payment on my own.  Either way, you'll get paid."

Garrett just shook
his head.  "Oh, for the love of..."  He looked at Loren
appraisingly.  "Save your money; I want payment from Confed, not you.  All
this selfless behavior will give me no end of guilt if I take your own
credits."  Garrett stared up at the ceiling of the room he was in, which
was almost dark.  It looked like some sort of study, maybe a lab or work room. 
"I'm trying to think of a way to get you to the drop where the location is
stored, but I need to be cryptic because this isn't a secure channel."  He
bit his lower lip, then looked back at the screen.

"You remember a
while back, you came to meet me in orbit in a particular system to purchase
some intel about the Priman DNA virus?"

Loren remembered all
too well.  He and Web had gone to meet Garrett in the gigantic orbital station
over the planet Lordes, which the system was also named after.

"Sure,"
Loren replied.

"Ok,"
Garrett continued.  "There's a bank in the western outskirts of the city
center there on Delos.  It's on a street named after that system.  The bank
never closes, just like all the major ones in the city.  You remember which
parking slip you were assigned when you came?"

Loren nodded again,
though how in the hell Garrett knew that and could also remember it off the top
of his head was beyond him. 

"Take that
number and subtract one hundred forty-seven from it.  That's the deposit box
you want.  In it is hardcopy with the location of a safehouse on it.  Don't
take the info; just memorize it, destroy it, and go.  I'll have your DNA and
retina profile uploaded as an authorized user for the bank and safehouse security
system by the time you get there."

"Just reassure
me you don't use your powers for evil, Garrett," Loren said.  It was
somewhat unsettling that the Fixer was treating an item like a confidential,
counterfeit-proof thing such as a DNA/retina profile as no big thing to dig up
and pass around.

"Profit,
yes," Garrett said with a smile, "Evil, no.  Call me using one of the
secure comms I have installed there when you arrive."

The bank was not a
Galactic Bank office; rather, it was a smaller chain that was based on Delos
only.  After their scavenger hunt took them from the bank back across the city
and to the east side, they entered a recently developed housing area.  The
place had formerly been light industrial, but the buildings were all remodeled
and renovated into loft-style units.  Some of the buildings were twenty or
thirty stories tall, and that was on the top tier of the wide-thoroughfare
streets.  There were fully six tiers of development below them, and the outside
spaces were checkered with cutouts so some measure of sunlight and fresh air
could make it to the lower levels. 

They parked in a
garage bay on the fourth floor.  In fact, half the fourth floor belonged to
Garrett, including the private garage space.

They marched Velk
into the condo after Merritt did a quick sweep of the garage and vestibule; 
Loren's retina scan opened the door.

The loft was well
appointed.  At first glance, it was trendy and fashionable, with the latest
popular materials: light woods for the cabinets and doors, metal for the
countertops and accents, glass frosted to varying degrees of opacity for much
of the rest.  The exterior walls were corrugated metal, with large banks of
windows that afforded a fairly spectacular view of the city.  Loren watched for
a minute as the city twinkled around them; lights from buildings, hovercars,
ships and the rest all mingled together to create a moving mosaic of pinpoints
of light.

"Put him over
there," Loren said, indicating a dining table with chairs for eight.

Web and Merritt
attached Velk to one of the chairs by chaining together several pairs of
stunner cuffs.

"Now
what?" asked Web.

"We call
Garrett again," Loren replied easily.  "Make sure you three and Velk
stay out of the camera's field of view."

They all moved to
the large vidscreen in the main living area.  Loren tapped the touchscreen on
the wall near it and the display flared to life.  He once again entered the
address he'd memorized for Garrett.

Seconds later,
Garrett's face appeared on the screen.  This time, he looked like himself and
was in what appeared to be a cockpit.

"Loren,"
Garrett began, "you made excellent time."

"I was very
motivated," Loren replied.  "So, I'm checking in like you
asked."

"It's around
two in the morning on Delos," Garrett began as his eyes left the screen. 
He looked at some sort of readout, then flipped a few switches and returned his
gaze to the camera pickup.  "I can be there by around noon this coming
morning.  Can you stay out of trouble until then?"

"I wasn't going
to ask you to get involved," Loren began.

"Loren, I think
I know you well enough by now to be able to tell that something very serious is
going on there.  I will be there soon, so why don't you and whoever is there
with you get some rest?  Come now, you can tell me if Web and Merritt are
there, right?"