Blink: Interdiction (Book 4)

09

"Nice work out there," Colonel Merlynn declared, her hard features folding into a pensive frown as she perused the after action report on her data slate. The leaders of the Blink teams had been assembled in a briefing room in her headquarters outside Karpa Luna, seated in a loose semi-circle around Merlynn's lectern.

All in all, Darien was happy. They tagged dozens of suspicious cargos and now had a whole host of leads to follow up across the planet, as well as the added bonus of the high-grade firearm he and Amber had liberated from the unfortunate guard which the techs stationed on the base were currently tearing apart in an effort to trace its origin.

There had been no hitches; no slip ups. Blink had carried itself admirably in the eyes of the colonial marines, and in particular, the eyes of Adaya Merlynn. They were one step on the road to building a reputation with the colonial military that may pay dividends for years to come.

"Keep up this standard," Merlynn continued. "And we're all going to get along just fine. You've given us a good staging point to really put the choke on the lines of supply to the rebel militias and action groups." She looked at them and a grim smile crossed her face. "So I don't see any reason to take our foot off the gas, so to speak."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vanna lounge deeper in her chair, lithe and languid as a cat. At the far right of the group Taggs leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands clasped in front of him, a picture of attentiveness. He could tell that both Vass and Bandle were itching for action, having been left in reserve on the first operation. Darien made a mental note to have a word with both of them before they shipped out for whatever waited for them. They would need cool heads, no matter what their assignment was.

"What about the gun?" Darien asked, his mind still filled with curiosity over the firearm they had liberated from the guard who'd assaulted Amber. He'd never seen a model like it, and a quick ring round of the Blink operatives revealed none of them did. Given the number of colonies represented across all five squads, they had a fair spread of knowledge to draw from, but ... nothing.

Merlynn's thin lips twisted into a predatory smile. "Yes, the gun. Quite a piece of luck that."

"You traced it?"

"Indeed we did." She placed her data slate down on the table in front of her and passed a hand over the holographic controller for the screen behind her. The screen came to life, and jutting out into three-dimensional space at its base was a holographic keyboard. Merlynn's left hand flashed silently over the keys and an instant later the weapon in question appeared in front of them, magnified on the screen so be the size of a bazooka. Even up close he couldn't see the seams and tiny bolts that held a normal weapon together. It was like it was made of a single, hollowed out piece.

"Can't be many o' those knockin' about," Taggs offered. "So who around here's got the bankroll tae be armin' their lads wi' this kind o' kit?"

"That's where things get even more interesting." Merlynn drummed thoughtful fingers against her thigh as she spoke. "This is a Bocklor Model typhoon. The barrel is solid state and rifled, and it fires aerofoiled armour piercing rounds, meaning that despite the size it has an effective range of almost 500 meters. It's also a side-arm that's only carried by one force on this planet."

She tapped at one of the keys and the image changed, revealing an image of Karpa Luna, specifically the bowl-like, sin-dark mass of Ravine' s parliament chambers in the city's northern quarter.

"The only force that carries Bocklors as standard issue is the parliamentary security cadre," she told them flatly. "Which means one of two things. Either the man your operative took down was a defecting officer, or the rebel elements have managed to penetrate much deeper into the supply lines of this planet than we thought."