The Fringe Wars

4.15

Final Preparations

New Sol, Darios

Hatha strode into the command room where Reyne and Sixx were currently going over the final Silent Night plans. One of her guards followed and stood behind her.

"Have you seen the news?" she asked.

"No," Reyne said, motioning for her to take a seat at his table.

"Parliament was bombed," she said. "Tell me that was your doing."

Reyne nodded. "It was. We needed to give the CUF something else to focus on rather than hunting us down." Even though Seda and Critch had done all the planning, he considered the three torrent leaders had full accountability for every major operation they undertook.

She looked at him and then laughed. "I like your style, but have you considered your fireworks could have the opposite effect? Because Willas James says that, at this very moment, Corps General Laciam is leading the Unity and its complement of frigates and destroyers to the Space Coast to finish off the torrent rebellion. They're now coming at you with everything they've got."

"I figured taking down Parliament would get them all fidgety."

"Hey, boss," Sixx said softly. "Hari made it."

Reyne looked out the window just as the Razor's Edge settled onto the ramp. He suddenly felt a little better about the plan now that she was there with the best small fighter ship they had on their team.

Hatha continued speaking. "How many refugees are at Nova Colony? If Laciam bombs it, he could kill hundreds, if not thousands."

"Not without Gabriel Heid giving the order, he won't."

She frowned. "How'd you know Senator Heid is missing? They just announced that he is believed to have been killed in the blast."

Reyne smiled. "He's not dead."

She fanned herself. "Oh, my, you are trickier than I thought." She thought for a moment before leaning forward. "But, how do you know the corps general won't attack Nova Colony?"

"Laciam is hotheaded, but I'm guessing he doesn't have the guts to take such a direct action if he learns Heid is alive and being kept there. And hopefully, that will keep the Unity there long enough for us to reclaim Sol Base."

She eyed him directly. "So, does that mean we're ready?"

Reyne grinned. "Tonight's the night."

***

Vapor had been waiting for the signal. She typed her passcode to open the program. Hardly anyone used keyboards anymore, but she found them harder to hack than comm screens, which she used only for communicating with clients. Keeping herself off-grid was how she stayed alive.

The screen before her populated with thousands of lines of code. Near the bottom of the screen was a cursor. She typed:

>>EXECUTE PROGRAM CLUSTERFUCK

A second later, the code began scrolling and then disappeared from her screen. A single response replaced it:

>>PROGRAM SENT

Several more seconds later, another message posted:

>>PROGRAM ACTIVATED

She smiled. Of all her programs, this one had been one of the most fun to write. It wasn't complicated. Rather, it was a combination of eighty-eight viruses sent via a backdoor Trojan. A simple design, yet it would take a team of techs weeks, if not months, to decouple and evict the program, one virus at a time.

She rolled her chair over to her comm screen, scrolled through her client list, and placed the call. He answered on the first chime.

"Your little warship should have its hands full in exactly eighteen minutes," she said.

"Excellent," Seda Faulk said. "The credits have been transferred to your account."

She checked a small window of her screen to verify her account. Seeing he was true to his word, she sent him the packet. "I sent you the antivirus. All you have to do it run it on any computer on board the warship, and everything will be as good as new. Pleasure doing business with you." She reached to disconnect.

"I have one more job for you, Vapor," Seda said.

She paused. "What do you need?"

"For you to take a look behind you."

Her breath caught, and she spun in her chair, only to have it stopped. A black bag went over her face. She fought to get free, but her assailant tied her hands far too quickly.

"Vapor, I know it was your program that killed Gabriela Heid," Seda said.

She froze. "It was just a job."

The next words came from the man right by her ear. "Then you'll understand that you're just a job for me, too."

With that, she felt a sharp, stinging slice across her neck. Warm wetness soaked her skin and poured down her chest. Then, the burning agony came. She sucked in a breath but couldn't find air. She reached for her throat, but her hands were still restrained. She kicked and fought for breath.

"I should warn you, Seda; Mason has sent me to kill you," she heard the man in the room say.

"Ah, I see," Seda said. "Thank you for letting me know."

They continued to speak, but a frigid darkness overtook Vapor and gelled the men's words into black ice.