The Pegasai Saga Part VI
07 Aug 2016Jellicoe
In the briefing room I outlined the situation and what we needed to do; Hogan's home had to be searched thoroughly both electronically and physically while he himself had to be killed, I also intended to kill Darrin for his double cross intended to get me murdered at Sladek and had an idea of how to take care of both at the same time.I've been keeping tabs on them both for a while electronically." Claude said after I had summed up. "You pay me to keep one step ahead." He smirked at my look of surprise. "There's always a way in to someone's data, these people have their sensitive files very well protected but leave their station services accounts almost open so I've had a good poke about."
"Anything?"
"Nothing concrete, if I try to access any high sec data it'll trip an alarm but there's a huge amount of information going through Hogan's quarters."
"That is his job." I put in.
"It is but not like this, field agents can't afford to draw attention to themselves so they spread the transmissions so nobody notices, Hogan has much more going in and out than even a station chief would be expected and all via one place; it lights him up like November 5th."
"Where's the data coming from?"
"The Federation mainly, though more than there should be from the Empire and even the Alliance but it's where it's going that's even more interesting."
"Which is?"
"Nowhere. It just goes into empty space way out beyond the bubble."
"False trail? Disguised signal?" Vik suggested.
"Not with a signal that big."
"Can you crack it?" I asked.
"Probably not with the time and equipment I've got here, the security is as good as I've ever seen. Our best hope for something solid is to get a slate or cube and pass it to Craddock."
"Okay you lead the search team at Hogan's place while I'm dealing with him and laughing boy."
"That's really not a good idea." Claude replied, I raised a questioning eyebrow. "Hogan is part of some great galactic conspiracy yes?"
"If Craddock is to be believed."
"So if we just break in and ransack the place it'll tip them off that someone is after them and any data we do get will be worthless before it's even decrypted so we need to destroy the place when we're finished in such a way it looks an accident. We also need a diversion before we go in because it'll certainly be being watched."
"Chuck in a grenade when you're finished?" I suggested weakly.
"It's a good job you're a decent pilot because you're a lousy planner." Claude said in his superior tone. "I've hacked into the stations maintenance systems, five minutes before the search party go in a coolant manifold will fail in the next building causing a major explosion, there's your diversion, five minutes after you leave a series of other coolant failures will trigger a string of other explosions destroying most of the street including Hogan's place. The equipment is so old and badly maintained that any investigation will put it down to that and not fond any trace of the part I played."
"Hold on, what about the other residents? I want Hogan dead but we're not mass murders." I put in aghast.
"The building that will go up first is unoccupied and almost derelict, there will then be twenty five minutes before the next blast, more than enough time for an evacuation. Precious few people live there anyway, that's probably why Hogan chose it, he needs a lot of power. Then there's your plan for getting rid of Darrin and Hogan himself; I assume you're just going to walk into Darrin's office and shoot them both when you have your debrief?"
"Pretty much."
"That part probably works but how do you intend to get away when you've done it?"
"The room is soundproofed which should buy me enough time to get out through Darrin's hidden door."
"The door is guarded on the outside by two of Darrin's men so you're dead anyway but what about the cameras in the room?"
"Can't you take it down?" I asked.
"Yes but there are four, if one goes down they might put it down to a fault, if all four go off they will be suspicious and send men to find out what's going on, lots of them, with guns, so you're dead twice." I hated it when Claude was right.
"Do you have a better plan?" I asked, knowing full well that he would.
"Of course." He smiled. "The basics of your idea are sound, you go to the meeting, hope they don't just frag you as soon as you're in the building, and shoot Darrin and Hogan, but instead of killing the cameras I take control of them and play the footage of your last meeting through the security feed. There's no audio because Darrin doesn't want his men eavesdropping on him and nobody watches these things closely enough to notice any discrepancies, I tell you when the film shows you leaving and you walk out through the front just as they'd expect. If it looks dicey I'll kill the lights and set off the fire defences."
"Will you be alright leading the search of Hogan's Harry?" I asked Lieutenant Soames.
"Of course he will." Claude interjected. "He just needs to turn the place over and grab any data slates, cubes or sticks, he doesn't need to be a hacker he just needs to not be a moron." Harry Soames blushed but smiled.
"Okay, we'll go with that then." I said.
"One thing." Vik put in. "Won't Darrin just shoot you? He clearly wants you dead."
"I'm sure he does, but I'm Hogan's asset so he can't just have me clipped."
"There is one more thing that nobody seems to have thought of." Claude said slowly. "Rattigan said the pods were tampered with in flight, if that's true then it means someone on this ship is working for Darrin."
"Do you think it is true?" Harry asked.
"Yes. There's half an hour where there's no video feed from the hold, two cameras going down at the same time?"
"Can you find out who?"
"Probably but I won't have time until we're done here, also remember that by now they'll know what happened at Sladek so Darrin might well have the okay to take you out, so don't be clever and shoot as soon as you get the chance."