Delphi Embassy (Delphi in Space Book 11), page 13
“I think I heard about that, that must have been devastating.”
“Strangely it wasn’t. It was when I was twelve. It was like a video game to me. We had been doing paintball training, practicing the dives for the Chagas. It wasn’t until the Paraxean war that I realized how real it all was. Even then, I’ve never lost anyone close to me. I’ve known people who have been killed. But never anyone that was a real friend, not like Morgan.”
“You’ve been lucky. And Morgan is going to be fine in a couple of days. Now, what do you want to do?”
“I want to find out who’s responsible and make them pay!”
“The Onisiwoens are looking.”
“I don’t trust them. I’m going to run my own investigation. ADI and I will find them.”
“We all want to help. Major Prescott will need to be involved. He lost people down there, he’s as mad as you are.”
“I’m glad he wants to help.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Major,” Catie greeted Major Prescott as she entered the prisoner’s room in the Merlin’s sickbay. “How is he?”
“Doctors say he’s fine. His leg should be fully healed by tomorrow. But he’s not talking.”
“I expected that,” Catie said. “ADI, are you ready?”
“Yes, Cer Catie. Please hook him up.”
Catie placed a hood over the prisoner’s head. “Hey. What’s this? You can’t torture me!”
“We’re not going to torture you,” Catie said as she finished strapping the hood into place. She made a couple of adjustments, then stood back. “ADI, he’s all yours.”
“Beginning,” ADI said.
“What’s that for?” Major Prescott asked, looking confused.
“Psych interrogation,” Catie said. “It doesn’t ask any questions, just measures his response to images, words, and sounds. It takes about an hour or so. Then we’ll know whether he knows anything, and probably what he knows.”
“I’ve heard of that, but I’ve never seen it done. I’ve never put much stock in it.”
“Oh, you should. It is really very effective. Can I buy you a cup of coffee while we wait?”
“Sure, since you’re buying.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“The interrogation is complete,” ADI reported. Catie and Major Prescott were in the mess hall finishing up their second coffees.
“What did you learn?” Catie asked, “and tie Major Prescott in.”
“Hello, Major. We’ve learned that he is a mercenary. He does not know who hired him. I have two names of people that were on the mission with him, but he suspects that they are dead. I also have four names of people he thinks were involved at a higher level than him. He assumes given the makeup of the team, that they would have been the subcontractors for those guys.”
“Good,” Catie said. “I assume you’re digging through the Onisiwoens’ systems to learn as much as you can about them.”
“I am. I’ll let you know as soon as I have something definitive.”
“Thank you, ADI.”
“Wow, that’s impressive, if it’s correct.”
“I beg your pardon,” ADI interrupted. “You dare to question my competence? Princess, it’s ‘off with his head’ in my opinion.”
Major Prescott’s eyes went wide in alarm while Catie burst out laughing.
“Don’t worry, she’s only mildly offended, but she loves to yank your chain. And I’m pretty confident the information is correct.”
“Only pretty confident!”
“99.9%. Now, ADI, be nice.”
“Okay.” Their Comms played a short song as ADI made a dramatic gesture of signing off.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Call Neloln,” Catie instructed her Comm.
“Princess, I’m so happy that you’re okay. All of us have been worried about you. Where are you?”
“I’m on our starship right now. Do you have any idea who would do such a thing?”
“I’m not sure what they were trying to do.”
“I believe they were trying to kidnap me. They killed several of my people, but our interrogation of the prisoner we took tells us they were trying to capture me.”
“I’m not surprised. Introducing those Comms really made it obvious how much of an impact your technology will be. It makes sense in a psychotic sort of way that someone would seek a way to control that.”
“So, you think that’s what it was?”
“If they were trying to kidnap you, then I’m sure of it. I’m not sure who would be so stupid, but greed and the lust for power do bring out the stupid in us Onisiwoens.”
“What do you recommend I do?”
“Do the authorities know you’re safe?”
“No, we haven’t told them yet.”
“It probably makes sense to wait on that for a bit, but not too long. It’s always to your benefit to make them sweat. Once you tell them you’re safe, you’ll be able to help them figure out who did this.”
“I think we’re going to figure that out on our own.”
◆ ◆ ◆
It took two days for Catie to come up with a plan. Meanwhile, the investigation had not yielded any results. The Onisiwoens claimed that they were at a dead end. Captain McAvoy had still not told the Onisiwoens that Catie had escaped.
Catie summoned Major Prescott to her office.
“Major, I need someone I can send undercover on Onisiwo,” Catie said.
“You need someone?”
“Yes, I have a plan on how to find the culprit.”
“Then don’t you think you should explain it to me?”
“Major, I plan to run this investigation myself.”
“Princess, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m happy to take your input, but you’re too close to the events and I don’t think you have the experience.”
Catie's eyes flared and Major Prescott wondered if he was about to be dismissed, not just from Catie’s office, but from the Delphi Marines.
“I . . . want . . . to . . . run . . . the . . . investigation.” Catie’s face was grim with determination.
“I understand that. But even our most seasoned investigators would form a team.” Major Prescott decided that a strategic change of direction was called for. He still had his head, after all.
“Very well, you can be on the team, but I’m in charge.”
“Princess, you always were.”
“Good. Now we need someone we can put undercover.”
“Don’t you think that will be a problem? We don’t look like them,” Major Prescott said.
“We’re not that different. With a little adjustment to our skin and hair color, some minor tweaks to our face, a human can pass. Now, who do we have?”
“Let me see. We have three or four on the Victory that have undercover experience, Cristina Castro, James . . .”
Catie jumped in. “Cristina is perfect! ADI, get me Cristina. Major, I assume you’ll clear it with her commanding officer.”
“Not a problem.”
“Castro here.”
“Cristina, this is Catie.”
“Princess,” Cristina said, clearly surprised to be getting a call from Catie and had assumed the ID on her Comm was one of her friends pranking her.
“Call me Catie. Cristina, I remember your work in Guatemala,” Catie said. “We need someone like that to help us with the situation here on Onisiwo.”
“What situation? Oh, excuse me, Princess . . . uh, Catie. How can I help?”
“It’s okay to ask. Someone on Onisiwo tried to kidnap me. I’d like your help in finding out who.”
“I’m happy to help, but how? Won’t the Onisiwoens be able to help more? And Prescott has good investigators.”
“Thank you,” Major Prescott said.
“Sorry, sir.”
“Quite all right.”
“We need someone to go undercover,” Catie said.
“But I don’t look like an Onisiwoen.”
“The doctors can take care of that.”
“The language.”
“Your Comm will help. I’m sure you’re clever enough to work around that.”
“What the heck, I’m in. What do you want me to do?”
“Report to sickbay. They’ll send you here when you’re ready.”
“Yes, ma’am. And sir!” Cristina added. She didn’t want to get on Prescott’s bad side, especially after omitting his rank earlier.
◆ ◆ ◆
Three days later Cristina was heading to Onisiwo aboard a Fox. Her pilot was pushing the acceleration profile to get them there quickly. Cristina didn’t care. Three days in a ship suit with no bathroom was about all she could stand anyway, so whatever it took.
◆ ◆ ◆
“I cannot believe this,” Marc moaned. “Another kidnap attempt.”
“Relax, Catie’s safe, that’s what’s important.” Samantha tried to hand Allie to Marc, hoping to get him to relax and focus on the good things.
Marc ignored Allie. “How could this happen? I put her on Onisiwo to keep her out of the politics and machinations on Earth.”
“Allie, look at Daddy,” Samantha cooed as she held her daughter up in front of Marc. “He thinks he’s so smart that he can manage his daughter’s life. Now when you grow up, he’ll try the same thing with you. And when he does, you come and get me and we’ll straighten him out.”
Marc laughed. “I’m forever outnumbered. Even Li . . .”
“Don’t go there!”
Marc cut off the comparison he was going to make between Samantha and his previous wife, Linda.
“Just look at the good things. Catie’s safe. Major Prescott will set a stronger protection detail. They are searching for who ordered it. You know Catie and ADI will figure it out.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.”
“Don’t worry, she’ll talk to you before she does anything drastic.”
“Like talking to me about the Comm deal she made.”
“Well, it did come up at the board meeting. And if you give her a bit more space, she’ll probably come to you for your advice more often. Now she assumes you know everything she’s doing.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds.”
“I know. But she’s seventeen. You’re lucky she hasn’t totally rebelled against you. She’s still Daddy’s little girl.”
“Sure, sure. Allie, you’re going to be Daddy’s little girl, and you’re going to stay at home until you’re twenty-five. Right?!”
“You’ll start to rethink that idea when she turns thirteen.”
Board Meeting – March 6th
“This meeting will come to order. Catie, how are you doing?” Marc asked. He was asking more for the benefit of others since he’d been checking in on his daughter daily.
“I’m fine. Morgan is out of sickbay and mostly back to normal. She’s still pretty mad.”
“I can imagine. Any progress?”
“Nothing from the Onisiwoens. We have a few leads we’ll be following up.”
“Okay, but be careful.”
“I will.”
“Catie, I have a statement for you,” Samantha said. “I think it’s time to tell the Onisiwoens that you’re okay.” Samantha flicked the statement over to Catie’s Comm.
Catie quickly read it. “’Perpetrators will be brought to justice.’ I guess that says it all. You don’t want me to say something like I’ll scorch Onisiwo looking for them.”
“No, we don’t need to be that dramatic.”
“Do you have anything related to the diplomatic situation to report?” Marc asked.
“Well, before the kidnap attempt, we reviewed all the trade deals. The Onisiwoens would like access to the jump gates and they say they’d like to build some cargo ships.”
“I’m sure they would. But for now, we’re not going to address that.”
“That’s what I told them. They were unhappy to hear that our company, not the Delphi League, owns the jump technology. They also want to start to negotiate trade deals privately.”
“I’m sure they do. Much easier to slip in a bribe that way,” Liz said.
“That’s enough!” Marc glared at Liz, letting her know he was tired of the banter. “Catie, just be careful with things. Let Major Prescott lead some of the efforts.”
“I think you need a new embassy,” Kal said. “Or at least a different residence where you can be most of the time. Something easier to protect.”
“I’ll let Major Prescott know.”
“I already have.”
“Okay, moving on. Liz, where are you?”
“We’re still making jumps to get to Earth. We should be there within three weeks. I see on the report that our next load is in orbit and waiting for us to pick it up.”
“Are you going out on the Resolve again?” Blake asked.
“No, the crew is shaping up fine. I’ll promote the first mate and let her handle things. Catie wants me to work with Ajda on a new class of cargo ship.”
“We should leave StarMerchant business for your board meetings,” Blake said.
Liz saluted Blake with a modified hand configuration.
“Blake, how are we doing on recruitment?”
“Things are going fine. Captain Clark is taking that over and making progress.”
“Are you replacing him on Delphi Station?” Catie asked.
“No, he can do two jobs at once.”
“So, does that mean you and Jackie have set a date?”
“No, and you could ask me personal questions privately.”
“Sure, but what fun would that be? Peer pressure works better in groups.”
“You two fight on your own time. Now Kal, how are our new Marines doing?”
◆ ◆ ◆
As soon as Cristina landed on the Merlin, she asked where her cabin was. She needed to go to the bathroom, clean up, and then take a bath, a long one. She had two hours before her meeting with Catie, just enough time, she thought.
Cristina had just finished her bath and was feeling 100% better when Catie’s Comm announced her and Cristina let her into the cabin. “Hi, Prin . . . Catie.”
“Hi, Cristina. Wow you look . . .”
“Amazing?” Cristina supplied the superlative.
“Definitely. I can tell it’s you, but . . . Let’s just say the blue hair suits you.”
“Thanks. So, what’s the plan?”
“We have four names of Onisiwoens that we think were involved in the attack on the embassy. We need someone to find them.”
“What good will that do?”
“Have you ever heard about the psych interrogation?”
“Sure, we used that in Mexico. Oh, you’re saying that works on Onisiwoens?”
“Yes.”
“Am I supposed to kidnap these guys so you can interrogate them?”
“No. You just need to get a few hours alone with them. We’ll give you the hood. ADI will take care of the interrogation.”
“Okay, so you want me to play a hooker?”
“I’m not telling you how to do your job. But I suspect the Onisiwoens will be just like the Mexicans were and will ignore a woman with skimpy clothing, she’ll just blend in.”
“Okay, what do I do with them after the interrogation?”
“We’ll give you a paralyzer you can use once you get them alone. Just slap it on the back of their neck.”
“I’ve used one before.”
“Okay. We’ll also give you an aerosol; after the interrogation, just give them a whiff of it and they’ll forget the last eight hours.”
“Good, then I won’t have to shag them.”
“That’s up to you!”
“Catie, you bad girl! You used to be such a sweet child.”
◆ ◆ ◆
When Major Prescott entered Catie’s office, Cristina jumped to attention. “At ease, Sergeant. Are you ready?”
“I’m just studying the material ADI put together for me. The situation looks enough like Earth, that I don’t think I’ll have a problem. ADI will alert me if I’m stepping into it.”
“What about the language?”
“I’ve been practicing for a week now. My Comm gives me the phonetic version in my left ear and I silently mouth the sound while my Comm plays the words over the speaker. It looks a bit odd if you really study my mouth and know the language, but I think I can make it work.”
“Hi, Cristina,” Catie said as she came back into her office. “I see you found the clothes we left for you. Are you ready?”
“I hope so. I need money and an ID.”
“Here you go.” Catie handed Cristina a purse. “There’s the equivalent of five hundred dollars in it. There’s also a bank card, which ADI will make sure has more than enough for you. Let her know if you need to pull a big chunk out and she’ll make sure there’s enough there. Don’t go buying a house or something like that.”
Cristina laughed. “I don’t think I’m ready to live here yet.”
“The ID is in there. No driver’s license, you’ll need to use a taxi or something like that. I didn’t think we should risk you driving with their left side of the road thing and weird signs and stuff.”
“Too bad I’m not British, they’re used to driving on the wrong side of the road.”
“Well, you certainly look like an Onisiwoen,” Major Prescott said.
“I think so. ADI says I look hot by their standards. I think I’ll keep the big tits when this is over.”
Major Prescott bit back the retort he was going to make. He wasn’t that comfortable around Catie.
“That’s what’s been bugging me!” Catie said. “Why did they do that?”
“I told them to make me look sexy. I guess the Onisiwoens are just like men back home, big tits are in.”
Catie just shook her head. “So, do you have a plan?”
“Yes. I’ve got a list of bars that ADI got from the prisoner. I’ll check them out and see where it takes me. I’m sure you’ll be getting updates from ADI, but I’ll try and make one every day.”
“Good, one last thing. Here’s a new Comm. It’s our latest design.” Catie handed Cristina a choker with a Comm on it. It was one that had a jewel inlay.
“Wow this is small,” Cristina said.
“Yes, the new design is half the size of the previous one. There’s a quick charger in your purse. It has an Onisiwoen plug so you’ll be able to plug it in; it will hold enough energy to recharge the Comm twice before you have to recharge it. The charge should last about six hours unless you start singing operas.”
