Vatican Assassin (6 page)

“Come on.”

Something’s wrong. The instalink isn’t snapping on. The screen keeps flickering, lighting up and going out, trying to connect and disconnecting.

BC tries audio only, “Jove, Diana here, are we good? Keep sending tha...”

“Diana, this is Jove, we are under attack, I repeat, we are under direct attack. Try again later, Jove out.” The screen blanks out one last time. Another serious vibration shakes the room.
The UIN has hit some church targets but never Vatican City itself. I can’t believe they’re
hitting the old city! Do they know We iced McEntyre, or just suspect it? They had to have already
been ready to go with this assault before we took her out, though, if they’re here now.
This could
just be the UIN trying to expand the war.

The room’s com unit comes on.

“Father Campion?”

Shit! It’s Edwards.

“Yes, Governor?”

“Could you join me at the command center ASAP? Five minutes?”

“Sure. Just getting the last stragglers into the shelter. Be right there.”

Another boom and vibration toss BC to the floor. He gets up, dusts himself off and starts to head out of his rooms.

They’re targeting this section! Good time to leave! I’ve got to try the Vatican again, later,
though. This is new UIN behavior. New and different. That always bothers me.

Vatican City is home to the newly unified Christian religion, The New catholic Church, small “c”

intentional. The current Pope, Peter the Second, oversees a church brought together only five years earlier in the Great Reunification of 2104. The unified NcC is allied with the Earth-governing Universal Trade Zone, though the alliance has never been made public, never formally acknowledged. Pope Peter enjoys power equal to the directors on the ruling council of the United Trade Zone. But now, thanks to their alliance with the UTZ and the power of the NcC, Vatican City is under siege by the Universal Islamic Nation.

In the past, the UTZ had pressed the Christian churches to unite. They felt this would strengthen the UTZ hold on Earth, as the various Christian churches traditionally supported UTZ war efforts. Christians had been the targets of UIN terrorism many times. They generally supported the UTZ’s policies against the UIN. The UTZ directors calculated that if the Christians united as one church it would focus their efforts, and their support would strengthen and help sustain the UTZ. But they underestimated the strength the unified church itself would wield.

As the churches united, the UTZ found itself sharing power with the new church rather than having power over it, a new equal voice among them... Especially since the elevation of Peter the Second three years earlier.

The old city has been home to Popes since the early days of the church. It was home to a rapid procession of popes right after the recent unification. All died in office, five pontiffs in two years, until Pope Peter came in (under murky circumstances…) and restored stability. Pope Peter the Second is the first black pope. His street preacher background brought real change to the church. He also began the Office of Papal Operations, the OPO, and then turned it into his own elite force of assassins and saboteurs.

At first the OPO just took care of Peter’s church “business”, but soon Peter had the OPO taking care of some of the UTZ’s dirty work covertly as well. Who would suspect a priest?

There’s no doubt the UIN has suspected the church to be directly involved in the fight against them, but they possessed no proof. Now, perhaps, they do… leading to this current attack on Vatican City.

Orbital fighting platforms belonging to the UIN drop fighter bombers down through the clouds, which in turn drop their own payloads, fiery blossoms of orange, yellow and red that rip into and through the ancient structures of the Vatican.

The Vatican has few defenses. St. Peter’s will be protected, this is certain, but not much else. UTZ forces have been requested, dispatched and are on the way… small comfort as another blast lifts the floor and drops it down again. Another ancient stone facade crumbles in the fighter-bomber onslaught.

The OPO, the Pope’s own men, are not equipped to handle such an assault. They are masters of subterfuge, not such blatant violence as this.

The sound of UTZ fighters arriving, and their ensuing blasts, sound like an army of avenging angels to Peter the Second. He’s been readying his retreat to the Vatican Shelter, but has resisted up to this point. With the UTZ arriving, his First will not have an easy time convincing him to retreat into the bowels of the earth.

“The UTZ is trying to repel this latest incursion by the UIN. The UIN are hitting many fronts at once, even the Moon. The UTZ security forces have their hands full, but they’ve managed to send a few squadrons in defense of Vatican City. They’re arriving just about now,” the First tells him.

“Yes, yeah, I hear them. About time. At least they’re here,” Peter says.

“We’ve already got report of heavy damage to some of the outer buildings. Our limited defense net is working, but can only dissipate so much energy. It’s working overtime.”

“What’s happening on the Moon?” the pope asks.

“Our man there has been in touch, but we cut it short because both here and there were under attack. There was too great a risk of discovery, of them stumbling across our com.”

“Have they been hit?”

“Sounded like it, but he was all right. And it looks like McEntyre is dead, and the Moon is blaming the UIN. This new attack should only reinforce Luna’s suspicions.”

“Campion does good work,” Peter notes.

The First chuckled.

“Yes, sir, yes he does. But then, he does the Lord’s work...”

“Yes, he does, doesn’t he, at that… You said the UIN is attacking on many fronts. Where else besides here and the Moon?”

“New York, Vienna, London and Tokyo are all reporting attacks. There have been reported terrorist bombings in Lima and Berlin. It’s pretty widespread,” the First tells him.

“Any pattern yet?”

The ground shakes again, knocking both men sideways. The lights go out, and then come back on again.

“We’re still analyzing the information, sir… Your eminence, we should get out of here. This attack will pass, but we’re still in danger now. Let’s get out of here.”

“No sense of adventure, First?”

“I’d like to think of it as a sense of self-preservation, sir. Instinct, maybe.”

“Very well, let’s go. Order all staff to the shelters. Let’s get going, then.”

The First opens the door for Peter, and then follows him out as they leave the office for the shelter.

In the now-empty Pope’s office a com unit’s incoming alert light pulses red.
Where are they?

BC had started for the door, had meant to go see Edwards, but decided at the last second to double back to try the Vatican again. The CCU is just sputtering, no connection.

“Jove, this is Diana, are you there?”

“Campion? I thought you were already on the way here?” That’s Edwards on the room’s intercom, not the office back on earth.

Wrong answer.

Not the one he’s been waiting for.

What did Edwards hear over the com?

“Please report to Lunar Operations immediately. Edwards out.”

Shit.

BC’s CCU isn’t working. He’s getting no response from the Vatican. He tries signaling them one more time.

Something feels wrong, the air in the room shifts…

The door is open.

In the open doorway, looking at BC and the com unit, stands the LSC he’d knocked out earlier. The cute one, Nita something.

She’s recording him! She has some kind of recording device focused on him and his com unit.
Shit again!

How long has she been there?!

BC dives at her. She turns and runs and BC hits the door as it closes behind her. He gets up and tries to get out after her. The door won’t open.

Great, she jammed it! I can get it open, but, damn, that’s getaway time.
BC pulls out his handlaser, blasts the lock, and the door opens. He races out into the hallway, looks both ways.

Muted thuds and echoing explosions sound around him, but the LSC isn’t in sight. He runs to his left, out toward the perimeter of this section of Reagan Station.

She’ll probably head out, instead of in to the city center. It offers more routes to take and get lost in…

She’s just ducking around another corner when BC spots her. She’s doubling back towards the center, towards the main atrium.

Gotcha.

BC runs after her down a long sloping corridor towards the main dome, then to the left, around the area’s environmental treatment center. She runs out into the main mall, into the atrium. When he turns the corner into the dome BC tucks away his handlaser and tries to look like a priest as he crosses through the crowd, moving as fast as he can without attracting undo attention, trying to keep the LSC always in sight.

She bumps and dodges her way through the dome, crowded with panicky residents trying to figure out where to go to escape the UIN assault. Her uniform makes her rapid transit through the mall look natural.

BOOM! BOOM-BAH-BOOM-DOOM!

Several people scream, distraught, in blind panic, as distant blasts shake the foundation of the station. BC looks around as he dodges through the crowd, hoping he doesn’t look too out of place racing after her.

If they even notice me, maybe they’ll think it’s a church emergency. Last Rites or
something. Hey, that’s kinda funny… I’ll give her last rites...
She’s ducking down one of the remote access tunnels!

BC tries to casually edge up to the doorway to the access tunnel. He looks around.
Good. No one seems to be paying me too much attention. She could be right inside that
tunnel just waiting to blast me. Gotta be careful.

He sneaks a peek around the tunnel door’s edge. The LSC is still running, down the tunnel. BC

ducks into the tunnel, pulls his handlaser back out and blasts a shot towards her feet.

“Hey! Stop!” BC yells.

She looks back once at BC, then runs faster.

BC follows her down the tunnel. At an airlock the tunnel branches off from the main buildings to run independently across the lunar surface.

The airlock is closing, shutting off the tunnel as BC gets there. He manages to reverse the door function and opens the door back up. Before it’s even fully open he jumps through. He stops the airlock from cycling, opens the door on the airlock’s other side and runs on down the tunnel. The tunnel runs across the lunar surface to some outer buildings. The tunnel is shaped like a hexagon, with the three top panels clear. BC can see the lunar surface on both sides and the stars above. UIN ships flash overhead, blocking out the stars as they approach and fire at the buildings, as he runs along the tunnel.

Looked like that last ship was over our section. They’re targeting the Vatican holdings
here, too.

There she is!

Another airlock closes in BC’s face. He can see the LSC through the closing door as she runs on ahead. He tries to remember the structural diagrams he studied preparing for this assignment.
These independent surface tunnels on the Moon have airlocks every hundred feet or so, as
a safety measure. Damned inconvenient measure
...

BC reverses the door function again.

This tunnel leads out towards the remote landing facility, if I remember right.
Where the hell is she going?

This running isn’t normal Lunar Security behavior. Of course, neither is recording me in my room.
She’s more than LSC, probably a UIN spy! A cute little spy, but UIN all the same. Where is she
going?

Another thought occurs to BC as he turns a corner and runs along the access tunnel.
I wonder if she’s the one who took my clothes? Gotta wonder why she was there in the
first place, now.

The tunnel continues on, out past the most distant launching areas. The curve of the tunnel prevents BC from getting a clear shot at her.

What was her name? Nita Bendix? And I thought she was nice. Sure, BC, all spies are nice.
It’s their job. You’re nice. On the outside.

The LSC reaches a large juncture ahead, a major airlock. It’s a small, sealable room joining their tunnel with two other tunnels. She gets in and closes the airlock, closing off BC. He catches up at the airlock door and tries to reverse the door’s function.

She’s jammed the controls. They’re frozen. He can see her inside the airlock, working to open one of the other doors. BC tries to force the door. It won’t budge.
If I blast the door, the safety features might not let me get through. I could lose all the air in
this tunnel, too. Damn! Have to short it, somehow.

BC opens the maintenance panel next to the door and rewires the door lock.
Still nothing.

He narrows and focuses the beam on his handlaser and uses it to do some quick and messy soldering. The door hisses open.

BC steps into the airlock juncture. The door behind him slides back into place. The LSC is already gone, off through one of the two doors in front of BC.

Yeah, but which one?

Like the tunnels, the upper half of the airlock juncture is transparent. BC can see out through the top part of the juncture into the two tunnels ahead.

The LSC is in the right tunnel, which leads even further out across the lunar surface. There’s an outbuilding ahead, nothing else. The end of the line.

BC tries to open the door to the tunnel. She’s jammed the door once more.
Naturally.

BC notices something else, out beyond the outbuilding, hovering just above the Moon’s surface.
A UIN bomber! Shit! Right on top of us here! That can’t be an accident!

She is way too hot! If she was only a humble LSC she would’ve stopped, filed a report, and had
me brought in already. She’s gotta be UIN. No way around it. Deep cover spy. The bomber
clinches it.

The UIN bomber begins firing at the juncture and BC. BC sees a bright blue flash.