Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Turmoil (31 page)

"What is it you
want from her?" asked Velk, ignoring the jab.

"I need to know
why this breakout happened," Halley replied.  "I need to know who her
accomplices were, how many Primans are disguised as Confed citizens, where they
were going to take you, and frankly everything else she knew about the war
effort.  And the best part is, she'll tell me in short order."

Chapter Fourteen

It only took a few
minutes for Starr to start to come around, and Halley knew they were already on
the clock.  She didn't have long to work on Tana Starr.  One quick call to the
city police dispatcher with a few code words had bought her some time, but if
enough calls were received about the ruckus the authorities would have to send
someone sooner or later.  She'd already sent Cory to retrieve the hovercar and
wait on the roof for a quick getaway, because time was certainly of the essence
and they couldn't afford to be detained while the local authorities sorted out
who was a Priman, who was Confed, and who was just trouble.  Halley had already
informed them that she'd be staying behind.  She'd explain the situation to the
locals and then report in to her own superiors on-planet.

"Ms.
Starr," Halley said neutrally, her voice calm.  "Ms. Starr, I need
you to wake up."  She stood over Starr, trying to remain calm.  With the
combination of drugs in the serum coursing through Starr's veins, Halley knew
the woman could get spooked into a catatonic state if she wasn't careful.

She touched Starr on
the shoulder, wincing a bit as she shifted weight onto her injured leg as she
bent over.  "Tana, wake up."

Starr's head lolled
around a bit, then the Priman woman began to blink rapidly as she tried to
clear her mind.  That wouldn't be completely possible.

"Tana, are you
with me?" Halley asked.

Starr just nodded,
swallowing like she was trying to avoid throwing up.

"You remember
where we are?"

Starr nodded again.

"I need you to
speak your answers," Halley urged.  She realized she was starting to
sweat, a combination of her injury and the tension of needing to rush the
interrogation.

"In the
safehouse," Tana said slowly, as if she were pondering each word as it
escaped her lips, surprised at her own comments.

"You set this
safehouse up?"

"I looked
around for something..."

Halley sighed. 
Starr was definitely good.  She was trying to give honest answers; just not the
answers she'd been asked for.  Another minute, though, and the drugs would be
fully effective, Halley had been assured.

"And when you
found something, you bought it," Halley prompted.  Tana just nodded.

"And you
brought what?  Food, furniture?"  Halley left a lot of things for Tana to
realize she'd left out.

"And guns, comm
equipment.  Money, too," Tana added, almost proudly.

Now we're getting
somewhere
, Halley thought.

"How many
accomplices do you have?" Halley asked.

"Salvor's
people here," Tana started, "but it looks like you've killed them
all."

"You mean to
tell me you're all alone here?" Halley asked skeptically.

"I don't need
help," Tana said confidently even through the drugged haze.  "I work
alone, always have.  I take orders from the Commander himself.  I speak for him
here on Delos."

"Who do you
speak to on his behalf?"

"Important
people," Tana said, and looked down at the floor.

"I'll bet
they're not that important," Halley countered.  Pride in her work would be
Tana's downfall.  She was very proud of her accomplishments.

"Oh, you have
no idea," Tana said with a smile.  "I give orders to Senator Dennix
himself."

Web's arm slipped
off the table he'd been using for support and he almost ended up on the floor. 
Halley shot him a glare; she couldn't afford any distractions.

"Been doing
that for quite some time, I'll bet," Halley said.

"I came here
not long after Ples Damar was killed.  He was Dennix's first handler, you
know," Tana said conspiratorially.  "He's such a basket case at
times.  He thinks he's playing both sides, Confed as well as us Primans.  But
we're one step ahead of him; he won't get too far out of line."

"So was it you
or him who's been behind all the strange policies out of here lately?"
asked Halley.

"Me, of
course," Tana replied.  "We give Dennix orders, he carries them out. 
From abandoning the Talarans to moving Representative Velk to the outskirts of
the city so I could meet with him when I needed to."

Halley tried to take
it in stride, but it was hard to hear that the man running the committee that
was in charge of the Confederation was a puppet to the Primans.  It also
occurred to her that she needed to test Tana to see if she was telling the
truth.  Halley needed something restricted to ask the Priman that she already
knew the answer to.

"So you moved
him here after he was captured during the Battle of Metros," Halley
started, feeding Tana a false location.

Tana looked at
Halley again, cocked her head and squinted her eyes a bit.  "You're trying
to trick me again, aren't you?" she asked.  "You know he was captured
at a hidden data facility."

"By a SAR team
of commandoes," Halley said confidently.

"By all of you
in this room," Tana said, a little annoyed.  "I have access to
everything the military has, including after-action reports."

"Lovely,"
Loren couldn't stop from muttering.

"Moving
on," Halley continued.  "We know about the rings you wear that mask
your bio signs.  What about the prosthetics you wear?  Are they
permanent?"

"No," Tana
said.  "They come off easily enough with the right solvent.  Between the
rings and makeup, your people have no idea we're here."

"How many of
you are there?"

"Not all that
many, I think," Tana replied.  "I know there was an infiltration
program, but it's compartmentalized.  I think I was the highest-placed one of
us, though."

"So now we're
here," Halley continued.  "Why rescue Velk now?  He seemed safe
enough; out of play, so to speak.  Why risk it?"

"Well, we had
to try, for starters," Tana said reasonably.  "He's the former
Commander, and as a Representative holds a lot of valuable intel.  The Council
virtually demanded a rescue mission."  She looked like she was going to
continue, but then closed her mouth and stopped short.

Halley's curiosity
was piqued now.  Tana was trying her best to hide something and was covering by
not talking.  Even though she realized she was going to tell the truth, if she
didn't talk, she wasn't giving up any info.

"And how were
you going to get him off-planet?"

Tana looked at
Halley, then Velk.  She looked at the floor, lights, Loren's still-unholstered
SSK, anything to buy time. 

"Tana,"
Halley commanded, "talk to me.  How was he going to get back to Priman
space?"

Tana opened her
mouth, shut it again, like she couldn't decide what to say.

"Tana!"
Halley shouted.  The Priman woman jumped in her chair, startled and a bit
rattled by the noise.  She shook her head violently, to the point where Halley
wondered if she was having a reaction to the drug and was experiencing a
seizure.  Finally, she looked at Halley again.  She whispered so low that
nobody could hear.

"You need to
speak up," Halley said in a firm tone.

Tana lifted her
chin, collected herself, and looked Halley firmly in the eye.  "He wasn't
going to make it."

Silence fell over
the room as everyone tried to interpret what that meant.  Was he going to hide
out in some secret location, lead a fleet?  Only Halley made the leap.

"You were going
to kill him," she said in a somewhat shocked voice.

Velk's eyes widened
as he looked at Tana in a fresh light.  He wasn't about to take one statement
as gospel, though, especially considering he was dealing with a trained Priman
operative with alien drugs coursing through her veins.  She could very well be
giving the Confeds a false trail to follow.

"Why kill
him?" Halley asked softly.

Tana spoke easier
now, as though breaking the barrier on her secret made it impossible to hold
back the rest.  "We, the Primans, came back to this galaxy to take over,
to restore order.  We also planned to return those lesser races that we'd
helped back to their place below us.  Representative Velk was always of the
more tolerant persuasion when it came to dealing with you.  He ordered the DNA
research, but our current  Commander, back when he was simply Representative
Tash, was the one who weaponized it.  Representative Velk seemed fascinated by
the ability you had developed to defend yourselves and the cultural identities
you'd formed.  He almost admired you, as much as a patriot can admire a
foe."

She paused to
organize her thoughts, then carried on.  "The new Commander-"

"Tash"
Halley interjected, to which Tana nodded in an annoyed fashion.

“
The Commander has no place for
disobedience amongst you.  We came to rule, and if you aren't going to be a
part of that, you will be eliminated.  He wants swift and total domination;
there is no place for compromise or amnesty.  You can join or be destroyed. 
Representative Velk, however, was known to being willing to entertain all the
options.  He was more open to an alternative beyond simple subjugation.  There
are many on the Council who would have allowed that method to be explored, for
while we are clear in purpose, there are already some who want the war over. 

"This presented
a problem for the Commander.  If Velk was allowed to return to Priman space, he
would have been reinstated as Representative.  He would have had the ear of the
Council and a great deal of influence.  His platform of tolerance and
willingness to explore other options would have weakened the resolve of many
and put the positions of the hard liners in jeopardy.  Remove Velk, however,
and now the Commander is undisputed.  Nobody would speak against him, and with
the alliances he's made, he will get his way.  And that is to scorch any planet
that doesn't fall in line.  He couldn't have Representative Velk jeopardize his
plans for success."

By now Velk's hard
facade was gone.  His mouth hung open a bit, just like Loren's.  For some
reason they both looked at each other at the same time, though both looked away
instantly.

"Commander Tash
would rather assassinate a respected warrior like Velk than risk the chance
that he wouldn't get to annihilate us in his own way?" Halley summarized.

Tana simply nodded.

"Were you going
to pull the trigger?"

"I planted a
bomb on their transport.  It would have detonated as they fled the
planet."

"Kill the whole
team and everything," Merritt said in shock.  "For a group of people
who claim to be so evolved, you sure seem to be picking up a lot of our dirty
human habits."

"Yes," was
all Tana could say. 

Halley got up and
looked at Loren, then Web.  "I need to talk to you two in the other
room."  She looked at Merritt.  "Can you keep an eye on these two for
a minute?"

Merritt waved his
SSK in the air.  "Just looking for a reason to shoot somebody," he
said with a straight face.

Halley, Loren and
Web walked into a back room.  "Web," she began after closing the
door, "I'm sorry I haven't told you everything about my job.  I've had to,
well,
adjust
some things I've told you because of it."

"You're not
really an Enkarran clone or genetic experiment, are you?" he asked, though
his tone wasn't as light as the comment suggested.  He could tell something was
bothering her.

"No," she
said, the tiniest of smirks appearing but gone a second later.  "I haven't
told you much about what I do, though."

"I don't think
you've made a habit of lying to me," Web allowed.

"You know
better than to ask a question that would force me to lie," Halley
countered.  She looked at Loren as she continued.  "Commander Stone
already knows about my real mission; he had to, all the way back on Callidor
after we were forced there when we were chased off the wreck of the Dyson.  I'm
not just a SAR operative; I'm on a detached mission.  Basically, we take our
military skills and then learn spy tradecraft.  We go and do the things that
conventional forces can't.  It's high risk, high reward stuff, and that's why
you always like to comment that I can be found wherever something interesting
is happening."

Web nodded. 
"Alright, so you can't tell me everything; you never promised me you had a
normal job.  We can discuss that any time.  Just tell me you don't have
boyfriends on every other planet you visit."

"Don't worry,
Web, you're the only one for me," Halley said with a grin, which turned to
a grimace as she shifted and her leg wound got her attention.  "I'm
telling you this now because I need you to know what it is I really do.  I have
nanites in my bloodstream.  They make me faster, heal wounds, help me hear and
see better, and they also serve as cloud storage.  Everything I see and hear is
recorded by them.  Therefore, my entire interrogation of Tana Starr is
recorded.  But I can't be the only person with this information.  It's too
important to even limit to two people.  So I want you
and
Commander
Stone to carry this.  You won't need to do anything, actually.  Just live your
lives.  But if I get killed before I get a chance to report this, you need to
go to your captain, just like you did the first time I gave you intel,
Commander, and have him go through the procedure to extract and pass on the information."

There were so many
questions Web wanted to ask, but now was definitely not the time for domestic
confessions, so he just bit his lip and asked what he needed to do.  Halley
produced her combat knife and made a cut on her upper forearm, then waited for
Loren to do the same.  They pressed their wounds together, and finally Halley
broke contact.

"If you don't
hate me for keeping things from you," Halley said to Web, "I can
transfer enough nanites to you in a more pleasant manner."