Chapter 314: (Telkan) (1/2)

ONE WEEK AFTER CASE OMAHA

The day was a slow day. The sky was overcast, the threat of rain in the air but the clouds never letting loose with the promise, the sun hidden behind the heavy gray clouds. The day was chilly, not enough to warrant a jacket but too cold for a light shirt. The wind was right at the point where it sipped away at the body heat but went largely unnoticed.

The spaceport was largely quiet, only a few ships landing each hour, the majority of them were cargo transports. One landed, dropping off a single passenger, then lifting off once she was off the ship.

Truxal looked up as the Terran female walked down the boarding tube and into the concourse. He checked his computer display to make sure everything was booted up, then made sure the screens she would walk between were turned on.

It had been about a week since the last passenger, not a military transport, but a civilian transport had landed and he hadn't been on shift when that happened.

The woman went slow between the plates, raising up her arms when she did so.

Truxal stared at the display that was tilted so only he could see it. Massive cybernetics. From neural cyberware, down her spine, down her limbs, machinery embedded in her torso, two induction pads, one on each palm, and much more.

A lot of them flashed as ”MIL-SPEC GRADE” and his system didn't throw out the specifications or purpose of the implants. The board suddenly fuzzed and read SECURITY LOCKOUT on the data.

When she stepped out he frowned slightly. She was tall, slender, had dark onyx skin, dark eyes with purple eyeshadow, severe features even for a Terran, tightly curled black hair in a flat top that he was pretty sure could be measured with a laser, and dressed in a black suit that looked, well, masculine to Truxal's eyes.

”Identification,” Truxal said.

He thought it was weird that his equipment would identify the person when they walked down the boarding tube but he was still required to ask all Terrans for their identification.

The woman held up her hand, two fingers and thumb straight out, then slowly reached into her suit. She removed a flat thin leather wallet, dyed black, and set it slowly on the counter. She used one fingernail to flip it open.

TERRAN CONFEDERACY OF ALIGNED SYSTEMS IDENTIFICATION

MS. SMITH, JOANNE

The female's biometrics were below, as well as a 2.5D picture of her.

She reached out with her forefinger and touched the square beside her picture. The ID's edge flashed green and the bar code appeared.

Truxal scanned it and it verified that the Terran female in front of him matched the ID.

”Reason for visit?” Truxal asked, hitting the record stud.

”Business,” the Terran female answered.

”Length of stay?”

”Indeterminate,” she said.

APPROVED flashed up.

”Anything to declare?” Truxal asked.

”No,” she said.

”Thank you. If you have any questions your datalink can provide any information you need on channel 112.2,” Truxal said.

”Have a good day,” the woman smiled, showing a startling amount of teeth behind her purple lipstick.

”You too,” Truxal said.

He watched the Terran female leave and frowned slightly. He'd never seen a Terran who wasn't a soldier of some type and he wondered what exactly she was here for. After a moment he shrugged and went back to watching the movie he had gotten interested in before the ship landed.

Outside the Terran woman paused, looking up at the sky. She shook her head, smiling that bright toothy smile, and then looked around for a rental service. Spotting a taxi she moved over to it, stopping and tapping on the window with one long finger.

Pelvax looked up from the dataslate he was reading and jumped slightly. He'd seen Terrans, mostly when he had been in the refugee camps and then the shelters during the war, but he never had seen a Terran with skin that dark. She smiled and he avoided flinching, startled at how the smile was predatory but at the same time seemed to make her more visually appealing.

Blinking, he rolled down the window.

”Are you available?” the Terran asked.

”Um, yes,” Pelvax said and unlocked the back door. ”Do you have luggage?”

The Terran shook her head. ”No.” She got in and closed the door, still smiling.

Pelvax realized it was supposed to be comforting and friendly.

”Can you take me to someplace that provides air transportation? Civilian flights, please,” she said. Her voice was pleasant, and Pelvax nodded. He tapped the GPS for a minute and got a flight company.

He put the car in gear and slowly pulled into traffic, heading toward the lifter field.

His passenger just smiled, looking around her at the city. He expected comments on how well the city had been rebuilt after the war, especially seeing that the Precursors had used heavy atomic weaponry on the city.

Instead she just sat in the back seat, looking around her, her hands on her knees, her back straight.

At the lifter field she payed Pelvax and got out. Pelvax shook his head, noticing she'd tipped him well, and drove off.

The Terran female looked around, taking in the field, looking at the various lifters. All of them used anti-grav systems or graviton systems for VTOL effect, all of them were painted in bright eye catching colors.

After a moment she headed into the office, stopping in front of the counter.

Senmat stared at the human. She, he was pretty sure it was she despite the masculine dress that reminded him of a uniform more than anything else, smiled at him, showing a lot of bright white teeth.

”May I help you?” Senmat asked.

”I need to hire a grav-lifter and a pilot, with room for multiple passengers and maybe cargo,” the female Terran said. Senmat noticed her voice was gentle and melodious.

”When?” Senmat asked.

”As soon as possible,” the female Terran said.

Senmat checked the computer. There were four pilots available. One had an annotation that she would pilot for human groups, especially tourist groups. She was available, so he pinged her.

”I have an opening right now,” Senmat said.

”Excellent,” the female Terran said. She set down a small rectangular plas card. ”Charge the expenses to this, please,” she held up one finger and deliberately made a show of pressing her finger on the corner of the card. A 2.5D picture of her showed up on the card, which simply read ”CONFEDERATE BANK” on it and a string of numbers.

Senmat looked at the card, the tapped the embedded molycirc against the payment reader.

It cleared immediately.

Halna'atik came in, wiping her hands from where she had just finished inspecting the port graviton engine on her lifter.

”What do you want, Senmat?” she asked.

”Got a customer for you,” Senmat told her.

Halna'atik looked at the Terran, twitching her whiskers. She'd ferried around Terrans who wanted to see the sights, since a lot of Terran families had joined their military family members on Telkan since the wars.

Something just seemed strange.

”Can you take me to these coordinates?” the Terran asked, holding up her left hand, palm up, and letting a set of GPS coordinates appear in mid-air.

Halna'atik looked at the coordinates, pulling out her datapad. She punched them in and watched as the datapad focused on the area.

The Elven Queens had only cleared that area as a safe zone three months ago then immediately changed it to Amber for ”Authorized People Only” within minutes.

”I'm sorry, uh,” Halna'atik paused.

”Miz Smith,” the Terran said. She reached out and tapped the pad.

UPDATING appeared and flashed several times. AUTHORIZED then appeared.

”Uh, sure,” Halna'atik. ”It's dangerous, so I'll be charging my risk rates.”

”Your terms are acceptable,” the Terran woman said.

Halna'atik thought the bright purple lipstick and eyeshadow looked weird with such black skin and white teeth, but she twitched her whiskers in acceptance. If the Terran was willing to pay the fee, then she'd take her out there.

”The flight will take at least three hours out there,” Halna'atik warned.

”I am prepared,” the Terran woman said.

”Then follow me,” Halna'atik said. She waved at the Terran to follow her, leading her out to where Whiny Baby was sitting. She noticed the human was very precise in her movements. It nagged at her, she'd seen people move like that before, seen Terrans move like that before, but couldn't place it. She opened the passenger door, handed the Terran a padded set of earphones, then shut the door before walking around and climbing in.

Her grav-lifter powered up and the graviton engines started whining. They were salvage from Lanaktallan hovertrucks and a crashed Terran combat striker.

The woman gave a chuckle. ”I understand the name,” she said, her voice soft but picked up perfectly by the headset. ”Running slightly out of spec for a smoother ride. Clever.”

”Thank you,” Halna'atik said. ”I learned how to work on graviton engines during the wars.”

”Hmm,” the Terran said, nodding.

The whole ride Halna'atik kept an eye on the weather outside the grav-lifter as well as the weather warning LED strip.

It didn't rain, just sat on the edge.

”Set down at the edge of the amber area,” the Terran said as Halna'atik slowed down. ”I'll walk inside. I would prefer you remain waiting.”

”For how long?” Halna'atik asked.

”If I am not back by nightfall, I will not return. You may leave and report me as overdue,” the Terran woman said as the grav-lifter set down. She opened the door and got out, then took the time to tug at her cuffs. ”Stay within your vehicle, for your own safety.”

Halna'atik swallowed and nodded. She shut down the lifter, not wanting to put more hours on the parts. She looked at the forest outside and nodded again.

It was dark, shadowed, and seemed almost angry.

She watched the Terran female walk into the forest, again her movements seeming to be careful and deliberate. She leaned back and pulled her dataslate out of her pocket, extending it out side to side and up and down, then bringing up her favorite match-game while keeping her vehicle's vitals on the upper right. She made sure to bring up her external microphones so she could listen to around her lifter.

The forest was close, heavily overgrown, and felt like it was centuries old. While it wasn't raining, water dripping. Halna'atik could hear animals moving around, rustling the undergrowth, jumping from branch to branch.

It was nearly two hours later when the Terran female stepped out of the forest, walking slowly up to the grav-lifter. She opened the side, brushed off her forearms as if they had lint or dirt on the black cloth of the masculine appearing suit, then climbed in.