Crave - 24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Merrick leaned against the wall, trying to find some way to pull himself up from the floor, but unlike the rough stone of the main hallways, the smooth metallic walls of the room he was in wouldn’t allow him any purchase. Sweat and slick blood on his hands didn’t make things any easier for him. He looked to his left. Lifeless eyes stared back at him before he turned his head away. Fuck, his chest hurt. He reached up with his left hand and ignored the searing pain. He needed to get help… he had to warn the Maser, but he couldn’t reach the door sensor.

Merrick looked to the table, but there was nothing there that could help him. His comm pad lay smashed on the floor, and the computer was smoking and crackling. Gritting his teeth, he tried to pull himself up against the wall again. He made it to his knees before his arms spasmed and his useless legs gave out, slamming his head into the floor. The force of the fall sent a wave of agony through his body. FUCK!

As he lay on the cold floor, feeling weaker than a kitten, Merrick chastised himself for getting into this mess in the first place. He should have seen this coming. He should have been more careful, and hoped Jenson wouldn’t do anything stupid. Jenson. The vampire’s face appeared in his mind’s eye as reality blurred around the edges before he blacked out completely… again.

<><><>

Merrick dreaded the conversation he had to have. He paced in his room as he waited for the vid call to connect.

“Merrick.” Jenson’s deep voice pulled his attention to the screen sitting beside the chair. “Have you found out anything new?”

“Yeah, we did.” Merrick sighed and sat by the unlit fireplace. He quickly relayed most of the information Leia had given him. “I’ll forward you a copy of Agent Harndi’s report as soon as I get it.”

“That should be enough information to bring Jorrah in.” Jenson sounded relieved to finally have some answers.

“There's something else.” Merrick closed his eyes for a second. He hated causing Jenson pain, but he would read about this soon enough in the report. “There's an image from the security footage. Landin said it matches the information we have on Jorrah. You'll have to confirm identification for us. And J.... the passenger on the ship used the name Mihenkel."

Jenson’s eye’s narrowed and his mouth thinned in obvious anger. “He used his son’s name to do this?” the vampire snapped. “How dare he dirty Kel’s memory that way? Is he insane? He had to know we would find out?”

“Maybe he didn’t expect we would get this far?” Merrick interjected. “If his plan was to take you out, he might not have considered the possibility we’d discover Terezin’s involvement. Only you would have connected the other incidents to this one, and the frozen kryelec gel technology isn’t that well known. Whoever is helping him probably hoped Anglia would just attack Alectera in retaliation for your death. Combine the attack on you with the sabotage attempt before we got there….”

Jenson grumbled incoherently. “You’re probably right,” he finally acknowledged. “Those would be reasonable assumptions.” His gaze hardened. “Merrick… please be extra vigilant while you’re on that planet. Someone has to know you’re getting close.”

Merrick smiled inwardly at the vampire’s concern, but agreed to be watchful. After they said their goodbyes, he went to the main room to see what, if anything, his men had discovered.

“Sir?” Landin called him over as soon as he stepped through the door.

Merrick joined the young officer at the desk. “Did you find something?”

“Look at this.” He pointed to a line of code. “This shouldn’t be here.”

Merrick pulled a chair around the desk and sat beside his young officer. “Isn’t that a clearance code?”

“Yes.” Landin turned his attention to his commander. “But it was added after the fact. The original digital signature was overwritten and encrypted. I reviewed the logs late yesterday. This was not here.”

“What does it mean?” Merrick looked at the code again.

“Well, whoever overwrote the program wanted us to find it, but it looks like it was done in a hurry.”

“To frame someone else?” Kalen asked, briefly pulling his attention away from Agent Harndi’s report.

“It would appear that way,” the Anphilian replied. “It’s sloppy though. If I wanted to frame someone for making these transmissions, I would at least do a better job of pretending to hide my tracks.”

“Can you crack the encryption? Get under it to see what someone was trying to hide?”

“I think so.” Landin started tapping at the keys. “I catalogued every off-planet transmission made that day. I can always cross-reference this with my notes.”

“Whose clearance was added?” Kalen joined them at the desk.

“Counseur Rossud’s.” Landin didn’t take his eyes off of the screen.

“Hmmm.” Merrick stood and paced in the small space. “Whoever did this must have known about Rossud’s financial troubles. But they didn’t take our Landin into account.” He patted his junior officer’s shoulder, spying a blush darkening his cheeks.

“Rossud’s financial situation wouldn’t be hard to find out,” Kalen said as he sat in the chair his commander had vacated. “It’s reasonable to assume we would be looking closely at him. He’s the perfect suspect.”

“I was right,” Landin interrupted, spinning in his chair. Excitement was clearly written on his face. “They were sloppy. I didn’t even need to pull up my notes.”

“So?” Merrick raised an eyebrow at his officer. “Who was it?”

Before Landin could answer, something that sounded like an explosion rocked the building. “What the fuck was that?” Merrick hurried over and slammed his hand into the sensor. The door opened to the sound of shouting and running feet.

“What’s going on?” Merrick grabbed the arm of a guard as he tried to run past.

“A shuttle crashed into the building, sir.” With a grimace of distaste, the guard pulled his arm from Merrick’s grip. In his haste, he’d forgotten about the Alecteran aversion to touch. With an apologetic smile, he let the male continue on his way, and turned back into the room.

“If it was one of the shuttles that brought me here, I can’t see there being any survivors.” Landin and Kalen nodded in solemn agreement.

Two guards entered the room, drawing their attention back to the door. “Sir,” the first male spoke. “This wing is being evacuated. We’ve been asked to take everyone back to the visitor’s quarters.” Quickly gathering their things, they followed their escort through the corridors. They were approaching the front entrance when Senator Elsan hurried over.

“Commander, please follow me. Jetrey and Pohlar will take your associates to your rooms.”

With a promise to contact his men soon, Merrick followed the senator back towards the throne room. “What’s going on?” he asked as they hurried down the now quiet halls.

“Not now,” the man whispered. “I’ll explain shortly.”

The Alecteran turned to the door leading to the underground tunnels. They were soon back in the secured maze that ran beneath the fortress. The senator stopped at another door, his hand hovering over the sensor before he lowered it, and looked back at Merrick.

“I’m taking you to Maser Luda’s private residence. “ He looked into Merrick’s eyes, his expression serious. “No other species has ever been invited into a Maser’s residence. Very few Alecterans have ever been inside.”

“Why am I being invited?”

“There’s something you need to see.” The male turned to open the door. “No one else can know of this. Now, no more questions. We must hurry.”

Merrick hurried after the man. They ascended a stone staircase and exited into a large airy foyer. He was led into a small, windowless room and almost ran into the back of the tall Alecteran, who’d stopped suddenly. The Maser was on the far side of the room kneeling beside a Terezinian pod.

“Patrice,” the senator snapped. He stomped over and yanked the Maser’s arm, pulling him away from the pod. “I told you not to touch the thing. It could be dangerous.” Merrick found it interesting that the leader didn’t seem to mind his aide’s hand on his arm.

“I was just looking, Aevahn.” The male responded, surprising contrite. “It’s fascinating.”

“What is that doing here?” Merrick looked between the pod and the two Alecterans. What kind of game were these men playing?

“It was in the shuttle that crashed into the fortress.” Maser Luda met Merrick’s gaze. “It appears to be damaged, but hasn’t opened.”

Merrick walked around the melting vessel. A growing wet spot stained the ornate rug it was resting on. There was a large crack along the length with several smaller fissures marring the smooth surface. “This was in a shuttle?”

“It was one of the larger cargo shuttles.” The senator confirmed. He stood between the rapidly evaporating container and the Maser, who seemed anxious to return to his examination. “According to the pilot’s flight plan, it was scheduled to deliver supplies to an island territory on the other side of the planet.”

“Which territory?”

“One of the Rossud holdings.”

Merrick swore out loud. “How did the shuttle crash?”

“We’re not sure,” the senator said with a sigh. “Witnesses say they saw smoke before it came down. It looks like the pilot tried to avoid the fortress, but clipped a corner. Luckily it was in a seldom used area of the grounds. It’s the only reason this thing…” He pointed to the pod. “… survived the crash.”

“And the pilot?”

“He didn’t make it.”

“Someone’s trying very hard to make us believe Counseur Rossud is involved in this,” Merrick muttered.

“Are you certain he isn’t?” Senator Elsan asked before glaring as the Maser stepped around him.

“Rossud might be arrogant and stubborn, but I don’t think he’s involved in a coup.” Merrick continued his examination of the pod. “Someone tried to make us believe he sent a message to the Ultec ship the day the flauros were delivered to Alect-3.”

“I’ve known the boy since he was a young one clinging to his father’s robes. He can be a stubborn brat, but I agree… I don’t think he’s guilty of anything more than having a father who nearly bankrupted his family with his gambling problem.”

“Gambling?”

“He liked to bet on the warrior battles. He wasn’t very good at picking winners.” The Maser sounded regretful. “I didn’t realize how bad his addiction had gotten until he started selling off equipment from his companies.” The leader took a deep breath straightened his spine. “How do these pods work? Aevhan told me what your Anphilian discovered, but I don’t understand how ice doesn’t evaporate in the atmosphere.”

“The specs say the implanted electrodes can activate a shielding system inherent in the gel. The shielding deflects a great deal of heat, but only for a short period of time. Any delay in entering the atmosphere could cause the pod to disintegrate before it has a chance to land. It’s one of the design issues the Terezinians are still trying to rectify. They need the shields to be available for a longer period of time, without increasing the size of the pod to the point it becomes easily trackable or requiring more powerful implants that could be harmful to the passenger.”

The Maser nodded his understanding. “I tried to look inside this one. I think it’s empty.”

Merrick crouched close to the largest crack. With the melt, he was able to see into it. “It appears empty, but it could be carrying something small. It should be put in quarantine. We have no idea what it contains.”

“We can’t let anyone know we have it,” the Senator interrupted. “We were lucky to get this in here with only the Maser’s personal guards knowing. The shuttle’s anti-grav platform was damaged, but worked long enough to bring the pod inside. The danger should be minimal. This building has sensors that would detect weaponry or anything airborne that could be harmful to the Maser.”

“Well, any gases that might have been inside would have made themselves known by now.” Merrick peered into the crevice again. “Do you have an x-ray scanner?”

Maser Luda nodded. “Yes,” he said, sounding excited. “In the security office. The guards have several.” He looked at the senator who bowed and hurried out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a scanner in hand. He handed Merrick the device before moving slightly in front of the leader again. Jenson wasn’t exaggerating when he said Elsan was protective of the man.

Once the scan proved there was nothing inside Merrick felt some of his tension ease. Using his comm pad, he took images from various angles. It struck him odd that anyone would go through the trouble of transporting an empty, temperature-sensitive container… unless they were hoping it would be discovered. There was no way to halt the thaw, so after Merrick ran as many scans as he could, they sealed the room and assigned a sentry to the door until the evidence disappeared.

The Senator ordered another guard to escort their guest back to his office before leaving for the crash site, promising to contact the human as soon as the wreckage was analyzed. The officer led Merrick through a side door, which opened onto a courtyard connected to the fortress. The entire area was surrounded by a high, patrolled fence. Although he couldn’t see it, the acrid smell of smoke and burnt plastic hung in the air. It took only moments before they were back in the building, and maneuvering the maze of corridors back to the counseury wing.

Merrick had just entered the office, and was going to thank the guard when a large body suddenly collided heavily with his. He stumbled, and spun around in time see the guard fall with a fatal shot to the head from a phaser weapon. He swung towards the door and met a cold, hard gaze. “Senator… what…?” There was a flurry of movement a second before pain tore through his torso, bringing him to his knees. Before his mind had a chance process what happened, his vision went black and consciousness slipped away.