Imperium Chapter 1-2 (approximate / rewrite)

Prologue

04:15 - 14.04.2379 N.Z.K.

         By Directive A-01624, JADSOC (Joint All District Special Operations Command) forces are authorized to begin Operation Deep Resolve. To all regional commanders, RP establishments by 04:00 Calcinam Standard Time, first engagements synchronized at 04:30 CST. Good luck, ODC Klae.

         The Deitech Corporation manufactured a wide variety of high quality products using proprietary power cells and had been under investigation by the Department of Corporate Affairs for thirteen years. Deitech products were some of the best available in the core worlds and threatened other major corporations’ holdings, which caused a great deal of concern for the effects on the economy. Before 2364, Deitech had been a prime supplier to the church, as their weapons were particularly effective against what the Inquisition deemed, “impure.”

         It was that very effectiveness of the weapons that gave the Inquisition pause and concern over the nature of the power source. After examining the power cells, Deitech claimed violation of contract and refused to supply any more equipment to the inquisitors. The results of the examinations were brought to the Department of Dütheomantic and Flux Interests, and the DCA. These actions were never reported by the public media, however the next few years saw a drastic reduction in available products of Deitech origin.

         In 2363, it was discovered that Deitech had been setting up unauthorized facilities in the Central Confederated States. The Inquisition expressed concern over the technology behind the power cells and pressured the Northern Bloc government to take action. The initial response was a simple embargo on Deitech products, later it included seizure of items already in circulation. During that summer, a terrorist cell detonated a very powerful bomb in the eastern side of San Reales, the CCS capital.

         The bomb did a large amount of structural damage to the urban center, shortly thereafter, people complained a headaches and uneasy feelings. These reports continued for several weeks, no official story was ever released. The DDFI speculated that the terrorists had used a weapon of Deitech origin, which infused a concentrated burst of Flux energy into the explosive properties of the device. The resulting Flux Storm, as it was called behind closed doors, left many of those sensitive to the Flux writhing in agony for hours following the blast.

         In 2366, there was a substantial black market for Deitech items despite suppression by both the government and other corporations. Northern Bloc sent inspection teams to the CCS and met with corporate cartel leaders, demanding access to their illegal operations. Deitech representatives did agree to show some of their research labs, but would not let the inspectors into the manufacturing plants. Inquisitors arrived in the CCS after the inspection teams were warned away, they along with agents from the International Security Forces, lead raids into the Deitech facilities.

         The employees destroyed all the existing power cells and much of the equipment used to build them during the raids. A great deal of equipment was seized and many arrests were made, but they could not present enough evidence to the DCA to warrant a total shutdown of all Deitech operations outside Northern Bloc. A compromise was reached of continued embargoes and investigations after long closed-doors court sessions.

         Earlier this year, Deitech’s corporate headquarters in Calcinam was sold to the Rottercam Corporation and many of their known manufacturing plants operating in the CCS, were abandoned. The DCA was given information that Deitech had been operating illegal facilities within the borders of Northern Bloc.

         This morning at 02:37 CST, the Oberwachung Direktorat reached a decision, a total elimination of Deitech assets and personnel had been authorized.

* * *

         The interior of the MH-132 Puma was cold and dark, the soldiers packed into the interior swayed slightly in their seats as the helicopter passed through endless turbulence. There was little terrain to hide the group of five helicopters as they neared the objective, so they were flying low to avoid detection. The early summer sun was a faint glow on the edge of the horizon, just enough to obscure them from any night vision equipment that might be watching.

         Senior Sergeant Boardman checked his watch, 04:26. They were almost to their objective and he checked his gear one last time, waiting for the call. The crew chief on the right turned toward him, held up 3 fingers and called out over the internal communications system, “three minutes.” The soldiers in back repeated the call and frigid air rushed in as Rifleman First Class Groeden slid open the door. The ground swam by fifty feet below as those closest to the doors swung their legs out, the soldiers could make out every detail of the sparse suburbs as they passed over.

         Blue lights came on overhead and the crew chief signaled thirty-seconds, the soldiers repeated the call on their own communications network. The helicopters climbed slightly as they passed over power lines adjacent to the road just before their destination. The lead aircraft started firing on the building ahead and to the right of the formation, tracers intermittently streaked through the darkness, illuminating the structure. The helicopter shuddered as the rotor blades bit into the air, slowing it as they approached the ground. The soldiers could see muzzle flashes near the building as the first helicopter continued it’s suppressive fire.

         The helicopters came down hard and in unison, dust filled the cabins and soldiers dropped out to either side. Moments after the wheels had hit the ground, the tone of the rotors grew louder again and pulled the helicopters back into the air. The lead aircraft turned towards the building and fired two rockets into it. The soldiers got to their feet and advanced on the structure.

         The command and control unmanned aircraft circled overhead at twelve thousand feet. The operator adjusted the primary camera and zoomed in on the area where they had seen small arms fire from the building. She used the touch screen to set a marker and forwarded the point to the Puma’s pilots who were now providing overwatch for the soldiers below. The operator watched as two of the helicopters tore into the designated point with their primary thirty-millimeter Gatling guns. The operator continued to track and forward targets to the helicopter pilots on scene.

         The MH-132 Puma was a dual-purpose aircraft. It was able to carry eight solders in full kit as well as its crew of four. Along with its transport role, it also carried an impressive on board armament including the thirty millimeter Gatling gun, the two crew chief’s twelve point seven millimeter door guns and four hard points, each capable of holding four guided missiles or an unguided rocket pod. Puma’s without troop seats could carry additional ammunition for any of the other onboard weapons systems. They could also escort the larger UH-84 Condor for larger deployments.

         The ultrasonics team was on the roof of the building bolting their receiver to the side of the elevator shaft. Corporal Mack prepped the emitter and keyed his communications, “Ultrasonics going hot.” The pulse shot through the structure and brought back a crude picture of the interior. SSG Boardman’s squad was stacked up and waiting at the side entrance, they fired their breaching charge and pushed through the door.

         The command and control pilot watched her screens for any sign of additional small arms fire. The computers would automatically highlight and suspicious luminosity variations, but didn’t always pick up everything. The operator watched as the infrared strobes winked out one by one as the teams breached the building. She was always impressed with how quickly things happened once the ultrasonics teams used their pulse. The crude interior map was up on the screen at the adjacent station, where a communications specialist was busy relaying information between the row of officers standing behind them and the soldiers on the ground.

         Boardman’s team had secured the first floor, ultrasonics and infrared showed the upper two levels vacant. They suspected there might be a basement, but the pulse had revealed five sub-levels in total. One squad was outside providing security, Boardman’s squad was ordered to hold fast on the ground level, three other squads were clearing the sub-levels floor by floor. He could hear muffled gunfire echoing through the stairwell beside him, however no reports of friendly casualties were coming back.

         White lights appeared outside the building as two light armored vehicles pulled up. Corporal Kelson banged on the exterior door and called for Boardman over the platoon communications. Boardman walked out side, flipped up his eyes-forward display goggles and squinted in the bright lights from the vehicles. He checked his watch again, 04:48. A group of soldiers approached with their weapons at low ready, in the middle of them was another man wearing black full body armor draped with dark red robes. The man’s right hand gripped a large black rifle etched with silver symbols and his left carried a thick book chained to his belt.

         Boardman sighed at the sight of the inquisitor, as they endlessly meddled with any operation targeting Deitech assets, more often than not getting in the way. The inquisitor stopped a few paces away from Boardman, the soldiers with him flanked out to either side.

         “Sergeant, I am Prelate-Inquisitor Mathias what is the status of the operation?” Asked the inquisitor.

         All Northern Bloc forces were under orders to cooperate fully with the inquisition and Boardman replied. “We’ve secured the exterior of the structure, the above ground floors and sub-levels one through three. Three squads are working their way through sub-level four and five as we speak.”

         “Any casualties so far sergeant?”

         “Nothing so far.”

         “That is good to hear sergeant, I would like to gain access to sub-level five when it is secured.”

         “I’ll let you know when it’s clear sir.”

         “Very good sergeant.”

         Boardman jogged back into the building awaiting reports from the lower levels. Sub-level four was clear and sub-level five was about to be breached. The squad in the bottom of the stairwell called for another ultrasonics pulse, the image had been distorted from being so far from the receiver. The ultrasonics team set up another receiver on the floor of the fourth sub-level and fired off another pulse. They forwarded the image to the squad’s tactical display.

         “Ultrasonics, can you clean up this image at all?” Asked Sergeant Reeve.

         “That’s the best we can do from here,” replied Mack, “there may be some shielding on the lower level that’s interfering with the pulse.”

         “Roger,” said Reeve, “breaching sub-level five in ten-seconds.”

         The floor vibrated slightly from the blast of the breaching charge, Boardman watched his tac-display as the squad moved through the lower level. There were several fuzzy spots on the ultrasonic image and a passageway beyond a door that was completely obscured.

         “There’s no one here sergeant,” reported Reeve.

         “What about equipment?” Asked Boardman. “Any of the manufacturing stuff we’ve been finding in the other facilities?”

         “Nothing like that but, it’s dark down here, even the ultrasonics and IR aren’t giving us a full picture. Thermal has some weird traces.”

         “What about that obscured passage?”

         “We’re looking at it now, there’s a heavy duty door blocking access to it.”

         “I’ve got an inquisitor up here that wants to have a look when you’re secure down there.”

         “Wilco sergeant, give us a minute to get this door open.”

         Mathias entered the building, walked over to Boardman and peered down the stairwell. He reached up, letting his rifle and book hang by their attachments and pulled off his helmet.

         “Sir, it’s dark down there, you’ll want to keep your helmet on for the optics,” said Boardman.

         “Something is down their sergeant and optics won’t help me see it,” replied Mathias.

         “What do you mean something, sir?”

         “This is not a normal Deitech manufacturing facility, this is something else. Something we have been concerned about. An evil awaits us here.”

         Mathias placed his hand on Boardman’s shoulder for a moment, then walked past him into the stairwell and headed down.

         Boardman cursed under his breath, told Reeve’s squad to hold position and sent the squad on the fourth sub-level to meet with Mathias when he came down.

         Sergeant Tyrel keyed his communications channel and let Boardman know that the inquisitor was with him and they continued down to sub-level five. Reeve’s squad was holding positions around the open floor plan of the fifth sub-level when Mathias walked in. They activated the emergency lighting, bathing the room in red. In the low light, the blurry areas on the ultrasonics scan appeared to be shimmering, almost like a mirage or heat waves.

         Mathias raised his rifle and took aim at the nearest shimmering area. “Sergeant, get your people back. We need to evacuate and demolish this facility immediately,” said Mathias.

         “What’s the problem sir?” Asked Boardman.

         “We can do nothing further here but destroy this abomination before anyone is injured.”

         “I’d agree sergeant, there’s a really shit-creepy vibe down here,” said Reeve.

         “All right, pull back to the stairwell, I need confirmation from command before we can destroy the facility,” said Boardman.

         “Be swift sergeant, our opportunity is fleeting,” said Mathias.

         Boardman dialed in the command net on his communications and forwarded Mathias’s recommendation. The communications operator in the command and control room passed on the message.

         “We heard him,” replied one of the officers in the rear. “Tell them that’s a negative. We need that facility intact as evidence.”

         The communications operator forwarded the message. Boardman flipped back over to his platoon net, “Mathias, command wont authorize us to the destroy the facility.”

         “I’m afraid I must insist sergeant,” said Mathias.

         “There’s something moving down here!” Shouted Reeve.

         “Over there, in the corner, what the fuck is that!” Yelled Rifleman Gill.

         “Shoot it, fucking shoot it!” Replied Reeve.

         Boardman could hear the staccato of the LS-64 assault rifles echoing up the stairwell. He learned over and saw blood splash out onto the lower landing.

         “Reeve, what’s going on down there?” Asked Boardman.

         “Fucking shit is tearing into us, I c...can’t tell what it is,” stuttered Reeve. “Gill is dead, something ripped him in half. Rodgers fell over clutching his face but I didn’t see what hit him.”

         “Fall back, get to the stairwell. Mack, get your team out of sub-level four. Everyone get out of there,” ordered Boardman.

         “Sergeant, Tyrel is down, I’m at the door to the stairwell. This inquisitor is doing something that seems to be helping, I’m sending the rest of the squads up now,” said Reeve.

         The soldiers started running up the stairs, Boardman looked down and shouted out to them to hurry. Reeve and Mathias were at the door firing back into the room. Mathias grabbed Reeve and pushed him back into the landing and fired off a bright white blast from his rifle. Mathias turned and made his way up the stairs.

         “Sergeant, tell your squad to drop an incendiary charge down the elevator shaft, type four or better,” said Mathias.

         “Kelson, grab a burner from squad two, get on the roof and drop that thing down the shaft,” said Boardman.

         “Roger sergeant,” replied Kelson.

         Reeve and Mathias reached the top of the stairs after the last of the other soldiers had come up. A loud groan of stretching metal, followed by a thud that shook the building echoed up from the lowest level. “Drop the burner, drop it now!” Yelled Boardman.

         “Burner coming down,” said Kelson over the platoon net.

         Boardman slammed the door to the stairwell and hurried everyone out of the building. The burner was a type five incendiary weapon; it was designed to allow infantry to destroy hardened bunkers. There was a shoulder-fired variant of the weapon system, but getting a satchel charge down to the base of a structure was the most effective method of deployment. Light glowed from around the stairwell door and the elevator doors next to it as the whole structure lurched and sank several feet into the ground.

         Reeve took a few steps back towards the building, which continued to subside as the burner ate its way into the bedrock below. “What the hell was that down there sir?” Reeve glared at Mathias.

         “The church calls them demons. The more educated amongst the inquisition refers to them by their proper name, ‘Agraeus,’” replied Mathias. “They are beings from the inner realms that do not have a natural form to the common eye.”

         “The inner what?” Asked Reeve. “Those things were tearing us to shreds, half of what I could see, I couldn’t make out clearly and shooting them seemed to be pointless.”

         “They were not fully manifested in our realm,” said Mathias. “They could afflict injury, but did not possess a physical form we could attack.”

         “In the burner going to stop them?” Asked Boardman.

         “It is going to make their ability to enter our realm here difficult,” said Mathias. “The veil between the inner realms and those that lie just beneath our own are easily traversed, they cannot however pass through solid matter in our realm. They must manifest without physical obstruction, at which time they are subject to obstacles as we would be.”

         “So are we safe, I mean, are those things dead?” Asked Reeve.

         “They were never alive young soldier,” replied Mathias. “We are safe, for now.”

* * *

11:32 - 14.08.2379 N.Z.K.

         Boardman was seated behind a low table in an auditorium at the Northern Bloc Government Operations Center. Seven wide desks were arranged in a line below the stage in front of him. Boardman was wearing his dress grays and keeping his attention on each of the officers behind the desks as they went through the report of the mission. He knew they would ask him why he chose to destroy the facility against orders and was preparing his response.

         “Senior Sergeant Boardman,” said Major General Klein, “you were ordered not to destroy the facility at—” Klein looked at the paper for a moment and scanned his finger across the page, “at 05:12 on 04.04.2379. We have read the official account of the operation, we have also heard from the Inquisition on this matter. I would like to hear your reasons for ordering the use of a type five incendiary device two minutes later, destroying all the evidence on three of the five sub-levels.”

         Boardman stood up and looked at leach of the general officers that sat before him. “Sirs, in the two minutes between the order to hold the facility intact and my order to use the incendiary, I lost eleven soldiers under my command. I myself did not see what happened in the sub-level.  Of the two squads I sent to secure it, only five of my soldiers and the inquisitor were able to get back to the stairwell. Considering the advice of the inquisitor and the reports from my soldiers, I decided the only way to prevent further loss of life and assets was to destroy the facility itself. Our weapons proved ineffective against the opponents that were encountered and I could offer no alternative solution.”

         “Very well sergeant,” said Klein. “This is not an investigation into your personal integrity and decision making. We are simply trying to determine what happened in that lower level. Of all the strikes that took place four days ago, your platoon was not the only one to meet with such resistance. We will forward your report and the reports of those that survived the encounter to the DDFI, additional evidence for the case against the Deitech Corporation will be sent to the DCA. Unless you have something further to add sergeant, I believe we are done here.”

         “Sirs, I would like to reiterate that whatever we encountered in that facility poses a significant threat to our national security. We need to be better equipped, should we run across such things again,” said Boardman.

         Klein took off his glasses, set them on the desk in front of him and leaned forward, interlacing his fingers. “Son, I’m going to be straight with you. Operation Deep Resolve was a near total success. We have all but eliminated the Deitech Corporation and all of its holdings. What remains, has been dragged out into the public and has become a civil matter. The Inquisition has signed off on the operation’s effectiveness and rest assured, we will be prepared for any further engagements of this type. Get some rest, you’ve earned it.”

         Boardman sat down quietly and stared blankly at the array of desks in front of him. The general officers gathered up their papers and talked amongst themselves for a few moments before standing up and filing out of the room. Boardman quickly stood at attention and waited for the old men to leave before gathering his things. An ISF agent walked up behind Boardman and asked if he needed any assistance with his things, Boardman waved the man off and strode toward the exit.

Chapter 1

17:43 - 03.03.2385 N.Z.K.

         Blessed is the divine who cast water upon the void, blessed is the water that brings forth all life in the universe. On this day, we rejoice, for water is upon the land and the light of stars has returned. Chronicle of Jaekob 1:4

         The sun had set behind towering skyscrapers that ringed the corporate park twenty minutes ago, but the sky would stay light for another hour before the sun fell below the natural horizon. The park was a long strip of green in the otherwise unrelenting conurbation that was the Highland-Calcinam metropolitan area. Highland to the East, across the Neckar River, had been nearly destroyed at the end of the “New Era” (2300 years ago), and again during the last great war on Ares in 2293. Large portions of the old city remain havens for terrorists and according to some, all those things the church warned us about as children.

         The sky was its usual hue of purple. Crisscrossing aircraft contrails added to the orange cloud layer that was forming in the cool evening air. One of the contrails glowed with a bright blue-white light, hinting that its origin was a commercial rocket heading into orbit. The ocean air was cool and pleasant despite the lingering scent of the megalopolis.

         I stood in the center of the carnage that reached out around me in all directions, broken pieces of people’s lives scattered about me like leaves. A flurry of small autonomous vehicles flew overhead, some belonged to the police, others were from news agencies trying to get pictures of the crime scene. I bent down, taking off my glove and pressed my fingers against the surface of the bomb crater. The explosive left a relatively even indentation in the flexi-crete surface, but looking closer revealed pitting. I pulled my hand back to my nose, jerking slightly at the acrid smell. Noticing a small piece of wire, I picked it up and rolled it around in my hand a few times before putting it back down.

         The scene had calmed down considerably since I’d arrived, the emergency crews were done clearing the bodies, but the forensics crew was still working on the explosive residue. I reviewed the video records from nearby cameras with my in-eye optics and multiple video feeds projected themselves into my field of view. The rubble around me had been a café with a dozen or so people enjoying an afternoon break. Two men in black business suits had just walked out of the front door when the explosion tore through the patio, killing everyone nearby. The two men were ISF agents on a courier run from dead drop site and happened to stop at the café on their way back to the NBGOC building. I assumed the ISF guys must have been the targets of the blast. Without a significant body count to rile up the media, the attack wasn’t particularly effective for anyone’s cause.

         One of the forensic techs ran up and handed me a sheet with the residue report, I scanned through the document quickly looking for anything worth my time. Surprisingly, the explosive had been military grade, not something you usually found on the street. The local “freeworlder” groups liked to build their bombs with construction explosives which were cheap, easy to obtain and hard to trace. The compound used in this explosive was from a demolition charge and was loaded it with ball bearings as well, explaining the pitting in the crater. I handed the report back to the tech and told him to report it in immediately.

         I walked back to the sidewalk and looked down at the roadway below. The central areas of Calcinam had lowered roads that cut down on noise pollution at ground level and allowed for the development of continuous flow intersections under the surrounding structures. It was a great system, until I parked my tactical vehicle partially blocking a lane of traffic. There wasn’t a lot I could really do, as the shoulder was intended as an emergency pull out for smaller civilian vehicles. I walked over to the nearest set of stairs leading down and headed back to my vehicle.

         I got in the passenger side to avoid the angry mess of oncoming traffic on the driver’s side. I gave my comm implant a quick tap behind my ear, dialed in Martin on my ocular display and activated the link. I saw Martin’s face appear on the left side of my peripheral vision.

         “Jeff, did you find out anything about the blast?”

         “It was a military ‘demo’ charge, loaded with bearings just to fuck with people a little more,” I said.

         “Military?” Asked Martin, “that should make it easier to trace. I’ll have Liz track it as soon as we get the composition report from the forensics team.”

         “I’m leaving the scene now, there wasn’t anything I could really do. This is the third bombing you’ve sent me to in the past two weeks. What are we, cops now?”

         “You should be enjoying this time off, I could send you down to the Southern Territories for that jungle warfare exercise.”

         “I’ll stay up here thanks, even though I hate the cold, it takes weeks to get all that jungle shit out of my system.”

         “All right Jeff, head back here and we’ll figure out what to do next. The ISF is sending over some information about what those agents were supposed to be picking up.”

         “Sounds good, see you in twenty.”

         I thumbed off the comm link and hit the start button on the truck and pulled out into the mad rush of traffic.

         Jeff Faulkner had grown up an army brat, moving around from place to place every few years as his father David pursued his career. He joined the regular army of Northern Bloc in 2372, served one four year tour before being picked up by special operations for his leadership skills and calm demeanor. He had to put up with a lot of extra pressure from his peers due to his father’s service and young age, things were somewhat better when his father retired in 2379 after Operation Deep Resolve. After Jeff’s participation in the raids on Deitech, he was selected to help form a new domestic security and counter-terrorism unit known and NOMAD.

         Over the past six years he and his unit have made significant headway into a shutting down most of the major terrorist cells in Northern Bloc and have been approached by the Inquisition to look into matters outside their jurisdiction. Most of the terrorists on Ares and in the core worlds are operating under the collective banner, “United Front for a Free World Government,” commonly known as the “United Front” or “Freeworlders.” The Inquisition works with Northern Bloc’s DDFI, which is charged with monitoring anyone showing supernatural abilities.

         At the end of the “New Era,” humanity had finally recovered from the second galactic war and come back from the verge of extinction. Ares is the new human home world and is part of a star cluster known as the “core worlds.” During that time, something was unleashed during experiments with a series of cube shaped devices made from highly dense material. A ripple of energy radiated out from the facility where the cubes were being kept and caused a great deal of changes that took generations to fully understand. Die Kirche des Protektorat (The Church of the Protectorate) was formed in the wake of the experiments and continues to be the oldest surviving organization in the core worlds. Many of the governments do not fully trust the church, but find that they cannot maintain control over the hundred billion people of the core worlds without them.

         After the Deitech raids, Northern Bloc’s DDFI began working as a go-between for NOMAD and the Inquisition. Until recently, incidents involving those with extraordinary abilities were rare and often without incident. There have also been rumors of Deitech equipment showing up in the black market, leading the church to lean on local governments to investigate the reports.

18:38

         The bright lights in the parking garage below the NBGOC building had me squinting before my optics responded to the sudden brightness. I veered off to the left into the tactical motor pool and found a convenient spot near the elevators. After shutting off the engine and locking up the vehicle, I walked over to the lift and hit the call button.  The car arrived quickly and the door slid open with a hiss.

         Inside I keyed in the override for the NOMAD offices, let my internal transceiver talk to the security system and the elevator started up. The whirring of the magnetic accelerators changed pitch as the velocity of the elevator car increased, glancing up at the numbers above he door and watching the tens column tick by once per second. The whirr of the elevator pitched down and the numbers slowed and I got off at the three hundred eightieth floor in under a minute.

         Outside the elevator the stark white security hall stretched out a short distance before me. Centered in the hall circular section on the floor raised up slightly, the device scanned for unauthorized items and cyberonics. I sometimes wondered if the scanner was going to give me cancer or something, with how often I used it in the past six years.

         The inner doors slid open and I saw our command and control center. Martin was in his office off to the left and Liz was sitting at her station near the center of the room. The room was tallest at the rear and the floor and ceiling sloped together at the far end, a large multifunction display was mounted where they joined. Martin’s office had a thick glass wall and hefty doors as a last line of defense should someone decide to invade out little sanctum here. Larkin and Ashley were sitting on the couch off to my right as I walked in.

         Martin looked up, “Jeff, glad you’re here. Liz ran a trace on the explosive compound, it is ours but there is nothing missing from any Northern Bloc armories.”

         “Corporate backing?” I asked.

         “Most likely, something from the black market. The part I don’t understand is why anyone would use a military compound. It leaves too many breadcrumbs for someone to follow. I’d wager the local police could track down the seller given time.”

         “It certainly got our attention,” said Larkin, “perhaps they were sending two messages at the same time.”

         “It makes sense,” Liz noted, “the freeworlders know we’ve got them on their heels. Maybe they wanted to intimidate us?”

         “Doubtful,” said Martin, “if I had to guess, I’d say they’re trying to throw us off.”

         “By making us suspect a corporation is helping them?” I asked.

         “Why not? Look, we’ve knocked out almost all the terrorist cells in the old city, there aren’t many places left to hide in Calcinam proper. I’d be doing anything I could to get us focused elsewhere if I were them.”

         “So what’s the plan?” Asked Larkin.

         “You’re all going to Genarren and take a look,” said Martin.

         “So, we’re focusing elsewhere?” Asked Liz.

         “ISF forwarded me a report on what the two men were carrying at the café. They picked up an encrypted data chip, which allegedly contained information that was particularly bad for the Genarren Corporation. Their source couldn’t get the files unencrypted and they ISF agents didn’t have the gear to decrypt the files on site, so they had to bring it back here. There’s little doubt that they were the target at the café and from that we can assume that the destruction of the data chip was the motivation behind the attack.”

         “That’s pretty thin boss,” said Larkin.

         “Thin is where we live,” said Martin, “Jeff, take Liz and go see what you can dig up. I’m working on OD approval for a more aggressive approach, but so far I haven’t heard back. Senator Montgomery has been pissing and moaning about something or other all afternoon and has held the director up from doing anything useful.”

19:22

         Jeff and Liz left the NBGOC building and took the monorail down to the corporate park. The monorail was the most efficient way to move around at ground level in the downtown area, it served hundreds of thousands of people hourly. It ran in an endless loop around the park with a few spurs into the denser urban areas beyond, a set of cars arrived at each station every five minutes twenty-four hours a day. The interior was well lit but dirty and smelled of sweat and ozone.

         The monorail cars slowed to a crawl before coming to an abrupt stop at the station outside the Genarren building. A covered walkway along the right side of the main entry lead up to the overhang that extends across the massive angled buttresses that curved down from the two-hundredth floor. Jeff grew up in small military cities around Northern Bloc and the core worlds, he visited the capital several times throughout his life before being stationed in Calcinam, but the tremendous size of the buildings here never ceased to amaze him. The Genarren corporate headquarters was one of the largest buildings with an architectural height of 11,280 feet above ground level, occupying three million square feet of surface area with the buttress supports extending another five hundred feet on all sides. The ten mile long corporate park was ringed with these towering behemoths. Another corporate sector to the North contained the vast Trade Authority and Security Commission (TASCOM) complex, which it shared with the Nordmauer Industries corporate headquarters. Residential arcologies dotted the landscape around the urban center reaching two to three hundred stories each. The overall effect was something like a slowly rising mountain range, with sparse but enormous trees throughout the foothills and the corporate park jutting through the peak like a sandstone butte.

         At the end of the New Era, humanity had regained its place as a spacefaring power after having been reduced to a pre-industrial society a thousand years earlier. The past 2300 years had seen nearly endless internal strife as the various superpowers rose and fell while fighting for control. Rarely were the civilian population centers subject to attack during these wars, Highland being one of the few exceptions, this allowed extensive population growth and an unparalleled expanse of the major cities. Calcinam was currently home to over five hundred million people, with another two hundred million living in Highland and the surrounding suburban sprawl.

         These conurbations were far too large to traverse effectively and most people lived, worked and died within a single district. The scattered colonies of the Imperium were sought after destinations for vacation and retirement, but few could afford to leave their home planets and many joined the military as a means to relocate their families.

         The Genarren building loomed over Jeff and Liz as they approached the entryway. Glancing up, Jeff got a sense of vertigo and closed his eyes. The buildings were somewhat uniform in their construction, with only the largest corporations able to afford taller or more customized structures. Looking left across the autobahn A60 that crossed through the center of the park, Jeff saw the towers stretching to the horizon with the former Deitech headquarters acting as dark, twisted end-cap to the row of traditional styles.

         The lower levels of the corporate buildings usually contained a multilevel shopping mall and the Genarren building was no exception. Jeff walked through the threshold into a cacophony of thousands of people going about their business and fueling the capitalist engine that drove the corporations. Liz tugged on my arm, “Lets get something to eat, I’m starving.”

         “Me too, we’ve got time,” I said, “what do you want?”

         “Meat, cheese, bread,” Liz responded.

         “Burgers it is.”

         Liz and I walked the food court near the center of the mall, ordered up some burgers and drinks and found a table near a fountain. The food was likely some combination of seaweed, soy and synthetic filler, but at least some of the meat was real. It tasted decent and was fortified with enough essential nutrients and protein to make it a worthwhile meal. Northern Bloc had somewhere around twenty million square miles of cultivated land for agriculture and grazing. Combined with fast growing crops and the ability to grow synthetic meat, no one was in danger of going hungry, despite a few billion mouths to feed.

         I heard a murmur over the din of the crowd, looking back saw an inquisitor approaching. I had rarely seen them outside of combat and this one was wearing the red and black robes of his station instead of the usual black body armor. Much to my surprise, he strode directly up to our table, swept his robe to one side and sat down. The man was impressive, with stark features cutting through his calm demeanor, his piercing grey with illuminated flecks of blue and green burned into my mind. His face was deeply creased with an expression of concern.

         The inquisitor leaned forward, "I am Prelate-Inquisitor Mathias," knowing that the name would give him recognition. "I've come to you to assist in your investigation of the Genarren Corporation. We believe there is an evil set into this place and it must be purged."

         Liz broke in, "we're here to find any superficial information we can about the explosive used in the bombing earlier today. Nothing more."

         "This evil is a threat to our world, do not trifle with it as you would some common terrorist," continued Mathias.

         "We're here without a warrant as of yet, we just want to get a feel for anything out of place," I said, "I do understand your concern Inquisitor, but we can't offer you any additional assistance in this matter today. I know the church and the corporations don’t see eye to eye on matters pertaining to the inquisition, but I will let you know if we find anything that would be of interest to you."

         "That is unfortunate Master Sergeant, I will wait here for the results of your, 'investigation,' please continue with your work," said Mathias.

         Liz took a bite of her burger and a bit of sauce squirted out onto her plate. Mathias glanced over and asked, "How can you consume the foul toxins of the corporations young lady?"

         “I eat what I like old man,” teased Liz.

         “Very well,” sighed Mathias.

         Liz stared at the burger in her hands and she felt a bit nauseous, tossing it back on the plate.  Mathias smiled, “no good comes from eating such things.”

         “Did you just—” Liz looked at the burger again, feeling frustrated then shot a glance at Mathias.  “OK, I’m not hungry anymore, lets see what we can find.”

         “Right,” I said.  “Lets see if they’ll show us anything freely.  If they don’t, that’s telling as well.”

         We got up, bidding Mathias farewell for now and tossed our plates into a nearby trash bin.  The welcome center for corporate visitors was near the central bank of elevators.  It was a short distance from the food court and Liz’s nausea trailed off during the walk.  A red headed woman in a form fitting skirt suit sat at the desk, she busily worked on the computer terminal in front of her, but immediately looked up with a smile as we approached.