Читать книгу The Phoenix Rising - Gary MDiv Caplan - Страница 8

The entire meeting and conference facility had been sensor-scanned three times by building security before the support crews were allowed inside. Then there were another three separate sweeps with handheld scanners, in addition to area sweeps done by the main internal sensor system in security command. Even the Betellians made a sensor sweep, as one of their senior officers was to give a presentation during the meeting. A pair of large, two-meter-tall battle droids set in guard mode was added to security measures. Lord Gar fa’eld had been appointed the acting chief of security and logistics and was not taking chances. Crew members and support staff noted his personal inspection of the meeting facility area and the surrounding rooms. All told, about one hundred people were going to be personally present; a few not physically present were to receive the presentation portion coded as an alpha platinum alert.

The reason for the high security was that there had been several murders within Star One. At first, these deaths appeared accidental or due to natural causes, but they were later determined to be intentional assassinations. Several ranking officers and other important people died this way, until the security personnel caught on. Eventually, outright sabotage and terrorism began occurring, taking the lives of three of the top security officials, as well as several fleet officers.

This type of sabotage attack was not typical of past enemy strikes against the Alliance of Worlds. Espionage was still a possibility, but nonaligned or hostile groups, such as the Meiosians, usually did not employ such underhanded tactics. It was not typical of the Varlon’s past actions either, as they had the military and technological force to strike directly. The technology used by these saboteurs and assassins was beyond the Alliance of Worlds’ standard technology. It seemed that most of the saboteurs were able to circumvent standard surveillance systems, even those that relied on visual identification, and fool or redirect the scanning devices, including masking or altering their biometric information.

Information transfer and messaging had also been compromised; Vice Admiral N’qert had been in the process of recoding transmissions and had leads about who might be behind all this, when he himself was assassinated. As a result, the security command was in disarray, and the Alliance Governing Council sought help from its founding members and close affiliates.

There were several other problems as well: A computer virus neutralized a section of the main computer core before it was eliminated. Many of the light-absorbing, hexagonal nanocrystals placed on the solar power panels situated on various sections of the vast hull of Star One had been compromised by a more advanced nano-technology similar to the Varlon’s technology. Somehow, small quantities of the Varlon nanobots had been released to damage the nanocrystals of the auxiliary solar power–gathering panels. Someone was needed to help with the various problems—someone who had skills beyond just security and logistics.

The council also wanted someone who had had experience as an administrator at Star One in the past. Eventually, the Alliance of Worlds governing council committee settled on a noble member of the Karratin Hegemony whose reputation was beyond reproach. They settled on Gar’fa eld, since he had the relevant experience, having been the chair and professor of the Council Academy Sciences Branch. He also possessed experience in the military; he was a retired vice admiral in the Karratin Defense Force and, more recently, was an ambassador for the Karratins for more than two decades.

Perhaps almost as importantly, Gar’fa eld was known for being generally helpful, though not all Karratins were known to be interested in assisting the less technologically advanced civilizations.

The Karratins were descended from some alternate, primate-like species from their own home world; however, s a species, they were generally more genetically advanced or evolved than most of the members of the Alliance of worlds. Essentially, the Karratins possessed high mental aptitude as a racial trait. The Karratins resembled humans somewhat, although they had slightly longer, tapered ears and perhaps a hint of green to the skin. Like humans, they possessed head and facial hair.

As a Karratin, Gar’fa eld belonged to one of the most advanced of the space-faring civilizations, and as a result of his racial genetics and technologic cellular regeneration he had, according to record, lived for a few thousand standard years already. Presently he had long sideburns and hair growing down in front of his ears.

During his time as an instructor at the Alliance of Worlds Academy, Gar’fa eld not only taught science and engineering classes but also some classes on psionic disciplines. Over time, many of his students had taken to calling him “Garfield,” the easiest phonetic pronunciation of the versions of his name. He accepted being called Professor Garfield, and it stuck.

The security sweeps and scans done prior to the briefing revealed nothing subversive. The meeting itself was scheduled for a certain time frame, but to throw off potential sabotage, no official times or places were announced, and those who were to attend would be given instructions thirty minutes beforehand.

Lord Garfield would also be presenting information at the Admirals Board meeting this morning, and he arranged that the exact room of the complex was not to be determined until one hour before. Any would-be saboteurs would be thwarted, and to increase protection, there was an independent force field generator borrowed for the meeting from the Betellians, in case someone wanted to crash a cloaked starfighter or transport vessel with explosives into the area.

It was approximately five hours before the Admirals Board as Garfield drew himself into a meditation position. Using several disciplines, he set a mentallic protective barrier and then, let his perceptions expand. His consciousness flew about, wandering from area to area, sensing and scanning.

Just outside the periphery of the headquarters complex, not far from where the Admirals Board meeting would take place, an individual uniformed as an environmental maintenance crewman emerged from an air duct, then quickly exited and replaced the cover. His movements were casual, seemingly normal for someone in his uniform. He looked around. There were only a few distant personnel. He removed a communication device, not standard issue; it concealed greater sophistication.

Garfield perceived and examined the individual; he possessed an unusual aura, not fully humanoid but more mechanical. There was also a device at work from the sensation; it was some form of short-range sensor jamming of a sophisticated nature.

Garfield psychically moved to make a telepathic mind scan, and at that point a barrier presented itself, which he easily passed. Moments later, a powerful, short-range psionic shockwave was released, forcing Garfield’s consciousness back to his quarters. Anyone of lesser strength and skill would have been injured or incapacitated by the device, a Jiyarri tool. The short meld had been enough to provide Garfield with some useful information; his light touch allowed a moment to access data before the defense system activated.

Garfield stood in his private office and said out loud, “Now, I know more about who else is behind this.” He activated a communication terminal to give orders to Commodore Brandon Avery, one of his senior officers.

“Commodore Avery, I have detected a potential environmental problem, and it is likely part of larger ruse to distract our security teams. We will need to send some maintenance crew, along with an explosives and toxic substance removal team. I will instruct the team personally. I will also be making contact with my home world, so keep any nonessential communication to a minimum.”

“Yes, Your Grace, you have no alpha graded communications waiting,” replied Brandon, looking quizzically at the Karratin’s image on his computer interlink display. He wondered how the Karratin had detected this problem.