Inta does the 'Dallas' Part 2
It was early in the morning before many of the passengers woke. Will strolled down a corridor in one of the passenger cabin sections of the ferry 'Dallas', just one of the many hundreds of similar hallways, walls populated with a seemingly unending number of cabin doors on either side. His only clue that something was amiss, that uneasy feeling of being stalked, eluded him, and until he pinpointed the cause and dealt with it, he wouldn't allow himself to relax his guard.
He reached the end of this passenger cabin corridor, checked the time on his watch, and then went to the lift to bring him down to the ferry's communications office on the Concourse mezzanine. After a short lift ride and a brief walk, Will arrived at the Comm Office just as they opened for the morning.
He had sent word back to Penrose through Jeremey a couple of days ago, and Will stopped at the Comms office daily to see if he had any messages. For the last three days, there had been none.
As Will entered the office, he was greeted by the same skinny attendant who seemed to be the only one ever manning the desk.
"Good morning, Jasper. Any messages for me yet?" Will asked his query, which was almost a canned greeting by this point.
"Good morning, Sir. As a matter of fact, we do. It was received about an hour and a half ago, encrypted with your public key. I'll route it to booth four," Jasper said, punching a few keys on his console.
Will thanked him, then entered the booth and closed the privacy door. The terminal displayed the encrypted message addressed to him. He selected it on the screen, inserted his crypto stick into the kiosk, and entered his passcode to open the message. Commander Michaels' face appeared, and then the message began to play.
The Commander's tone was terse but professional. "Mr. Focault, Let me first thank you again for the tech you provided to station security. We've only partially rolled out the devices, and they have already had an impact. We expect to have them fully implemented throughout the station by the end of the month, again thank you. I received the message from your friend down in Station Maintenance and it took me a couple of days to confirm a few details."
Michaels paused, looked down at some reports, then continued. "An arrest was recently made as part of an anti-corruption crackdown. The individual in question was a station flight controller charged with taking bribes in exchange for information on vessels coming and going at Penrose. A communicator was confiscated, which had contact information for known associates of the Cortez crime organization, who have been suspected of being involved with piracy in this system, as well as many other crimes. The timing of some of this individual's communications coincides with the departure of your vessel, suggesting that you or your ship has caught the attention of the Cortez Organization. If I were you, I would suggest that you inform Dallas Security at once. I've already sent out a high-level alert to the Command Crew of the ferry to be on alert."
Michaels paused, rubbed his forehead over his eyes, then continued. "I don't have any more specific information in..." The commander shuffled around some more reports, looking for one in particular, and then opened it when he found the one he was looking for. "In regards to the Slaver incident on the station, further investigations turned up nothing, a complete dead end. They're like ghosts," he sighed, then said, "That's all I have for you today. Good luck, Mr. Focault. Stay vigilant, protect your family. Michaels signing off." Then, the recording ended.
Will scowled and shook his head. It wasn't much to go on, but at least it was enough to bring to Dallas Security, who would surely increase their presence in the maintenance bay where the Nestia was berthed.
He took a copy of the message and then exited the privacy booth. On his way out of the comms office, he thanked Jasper, the attendant. Once out on the mezzanine overlooking the Concourse, he spoke softly to Interface, who was always listening in his ear. "Hey Inta, have you guys headed out for breakfast yet?"
"Yup," she replied cheerfully in his earpiece. "We're on the tram now and should arrive in a few minutes."
Will smiled. Inta's upbeat disposition never failed to brighten his day. "Fantastic. I'll meet you at the restaurant." He paused. "Love you, Silver Girl."
"I love you too, Will," Interface replied, voice thick with emotion. "We'll see you in a few."
Will turned from the mezzanine railing and headed to the restaurant to meet with the crew. Foot traffic steadily increased as passengers woke and headed out for the day, slowing his usually fast walking pace. Will made his way through the growing crowds and arrived at 'The Tanaran Skillet', the little brunch restaurant that had quickly become their favorite spot. He only needed to wait a few moments, and then others arrived. Inta and June greeted him with kisses, and Ben hugged him warmly.
"Haven't seen much of you in the past couple of days," Ben observed after releasing him.
"Yeah," Will said, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's go sit down; We've got some things to talk about."
They went inside, and the hostess sat them at a booth in the corner. She poured coffee for all but Inta, who got a glass of water. When the waiter came to the table, he took their order and returned to the kitchen. Will sipped his coffee and then cleared his throat.
"So I received a message back from Commander Michaels on Penrose," Will began. "He said that they had arrested someone who was passing information to some shady people in the 'Cortez Organization', whoever they are, and we're on their radar."
Ben straightened in his seat at the mention of Cortez. "What kind of information did Cortez receive?" He asked, brow suddenly furrowed with concern.
"It wasn't clear to Michaels, but he did know that it was one of the traffic controllers from the station that was arrested," Will said, picking up on Ben's elevated level of concern.
"Franco, the pirate that Shanghai'd my street gang to serve on his ships, worked directly for Cortez," Ben explained. "Cortez controls most of the illegal activity in the systems surrounding Bourdan, piracy chief among all the other nasty stuff he has his fingers in. One of the ways he targeted ships was through informants like this traffic controller. If I had to guess, he didn't appreciate the mess we made of his ships when we escaped that system in the nebula, and he's looking for retribution." Ben paused, thinking. "The Nestia is a ship with unique capabilities; if he got reports from the other ships that we ran from, then I can imagine that he might be very motivated to get his hands on the ship."
Everyone around the table was silent while they contemplated what that meant. Will spoke first. "It fits with what we know so far, and the fact that I picked up on something the other day, says that they're on board somewhere, laying low." Will pressed his lips into a tight line. "I especially don't like the fact that we know that there is danger nearby, but we can't carry weapons per Dallas Security. We might need to consider limiting our time out and about."
June and Inta looked crestfallen at the suggestion that they limit their activities on the ferry. "Are you sure that's necessary? There's lots of Dallas Security all around," June said defensively.
"As the old saying goes, 'when seconds count, Security is only minutes away.' These people are trained and highly motivated, and if we don't have a way to properly defend ourselves, we're sitting ducks," Will stated bluntly, aware that he was proposing that they hole up on the Nestia for the rest of the trip, squashing Inta and everyone's plans for fun and entertainment for the next couple of months.
For the last several minutes, Ben had a faraway look in his eyes; then, his focus suddenly snapped back. "What if we can be armed at a moment's notice?" Ben asked cryptically.
Will looked at Ben and then the others, unsure where he was going with that question. "Well, if we can defend ourselves, that changes the equation. What do you have cooking in that brilliant mind of yours?" Will asked.
"Inta and I have been developing an instantly deployable pressure suit, in case of emergencies, like a rapid decompression event or the like. It ties us more directly to the Nestia and would allow us to be pulled safely back to the ship. I already have a prototype of the gauntlet ready."
Ben rolled up the sleeve on his right arm and showed off a silver bracer fitting tightly on his forearm. "This button here signals Inta to activate it, though you could ask her verbally as well. Inta?" As soon as Ben asked her, Inta's glowing blue eyes brightened in concentration for a moment, and the silver bracer poured down his forearm, encasing it and his entire hand in a shiny, metallic glove.
Ben held his hand out, flexed his wrist, and wiggled his fingers, showing off their flexibility. "Inta, can you send me a wrench from the engineering workstation?" He asked as he held out his gloved hand, palm up.
No sooner had he asked Inta, a silver-coated object slid out of 4-D space into his hand, then the silver drew back, revealing a small, red-handled monkey wrench. "Now, picture instead of a wrench, we have Inta send a weapon from the armory," Ben said, waiting for the other's feedback.
"That's brilliant!" Will said with a wide, appreciative smile on his face.
"Does it need to be a bracer? Can it be a little smaller, maybe like a bracelet?" June asked.
"Maybe in the next iteration. I need to finish the design for the full suit first, that way we can have something space-rated at a moment's notice. I've watched more than my share of people thrown out of airlocks; it's not a pleasant way to go," Ben said, shuttering at the memory.
"When can June and I get a bracer? These would be useful, and I would feel better knowing that we can be armed in a blink if need be," Will asked.
Inta reached over the table and placed her hands on Will and June's right forearms. Silver flowed from under her palms, encircling their limbs with the same bracer that Ben wore. "Done. Now you all have one," she said, pleased with herself.
Will and June inspected their bracers, admiring their fit and how they felt more like second skin than a bulky piece of jewelry. They then rolled their sleeves back down their arms, covering most of the bracers.
"Inta, is there anything else you need to prepare to be able to send us weapons when we need it, like setting up a special rack or something?" Will asked.
"Yeah, I'll need to modify the design of the pistols and rifles to incorporate a bit of precursor material, inside the grip handle, but until then, I can hand it over from another one of my instantiations on board. I'm working on it as we speak," Inta said, delighted she was helpful.
