Food For Thought Ch. 004

"Steepler Interstellar has an office a little farther to the west, their main office is on Addison on the edge of the inner sphear." Lilith replied as she thumbed through some of the clothing racks nervously. "They moved their more illicit dealings out here to separate them from their legitimate shipping contracts." She added.

"What sort of things are you talking about?" Logan watched her closely.

"Moving drugs, moving people, generally moving things that are considered illegal." She looked up at him and gave him a sad look.

"People?" He stepped over to her and took her hands.

"I don't really know where they get sent." Looking a little defeated she gripped his hands tightly. "There wasn't much I could do, I wish I could have done something, but I wasn't really safe or in a position to help."

"Do you blame yourself?" Logan squeezed her hands gently.

"Maybe a little, but I know none of it was my fault. It might be guilt more than anything." Lilith managed a weak smile.

"Well, while we are there why don't we do our best to fuck with their operation? It's not like they could file a police report." He was a little hesitant to 'go rogue'. Logan felt he had a pretty good moral compass, but it seemed like Steepler Interstellar was into some shady things. If helping Lilith meant they knocked them down a peg, it certainly wouldn't be a bad thing.

Logan didn't like hurting people, even if they deserved it. He had no problem defending himself, but causing pain for the sake of 'justice' didn't feel right. Sometimes a fight couldn't be avoided, but he would never go out of his way to cause harm to others.

"Sounds like a good idea." Lilith replied. Her smile became warmer and she looked determined again. "Their office is a little bit more than an office, I'm pretty sure it has some reinforced construction. Most of the illicit dealings are in the basement or sub basement. There's also usually at least four guards that I've seen whenever I had to go there."

Logan considered this information. "I think one of the first things we need to do is find you a weapon. The infected are certainly an issue, but people can also be a problem. Not sure where we will find one but it should be a priority." Pulling her into a quick hug they separated.

"Having a plan, even a small one, feels good." She nodded at him and the pair headed for the door.

They stepped back into the street after making sure it was still clear of infected. Walking towards the west side of Alasdair they were crossing one of the main streets that ran almost interrupted through the city.

Looking up the street they could see a checkpoint, maybe six streets up with a few people milling around. Logan watched them for a moment before he heard a pop in the distance. He couldn't tell where it came from and the heads at the checkpoint were looking around as well.

Another series of pops followed and Logan realized it was gunfire coming from the direction of the starport on the south side of the city. They were a distance away so it took him a second to recognize the sound.

Terran rifles were pretty loud, opting for higher caliber propellant weapons with stabilization rather than any kind of electromagnetic system like railguns.

When it came to ground based combat the general thinking of the Colonial Navy was: simple is best. Propellant weapons had existed for a long time and were highly reliable. They were also cheap and the Government wasn't adding a budget for upgrades anytime soon, despite small form railguns being highly effective.

The pops continued for a solid minute, Logan was wondering what they were shooting at, infected or civilians. He couldn't figure out which would be worse given the volume of fire.

The Sparrow was suddenly visible in the sky again, having gained some altitude. It turned towards the starport as another shape appeared over the rooftops.

A large cargo ship that looked almost too big to make a surface landing was sluggishly rising into the sky. Its bow was angled slightly up as large engines roared to life behind it trying desperately to push it free of the planet's gravity.

Being so large it wasn't very quick, the Sparrow was on them in an instant. The destroyer was much faster and Logan could only imagine what was taking place on the bridge as they were likely torn between enforcing the quarantine and not wanting to harm the people they were supposed to be protecting.

A lot was at stake if the infection made it to other worlds. He didn't envy the crew of the Sparrow one bit.

There was an obvious delay, no doubt every head in the city that could look up was watching. The Sparrow hung behind the cargo ship like a shadow, a moment passed, then another, like watching something in slow motion.

Logan couldn't tell exactly when the missile was fired, but the white line streaking towards the cargo ship was obvious. A brief flash of light followed by a distant boom that washed over the city as the missile struck its mark.

The explosion looked like it had taken out one of the main engines in an attempt to force a landing rather than destroy the whole ship. It should be easy enough to nose down and land somewhere.

Something wasn't right though, the cargo ship started to turn hard. Either the person at the helm of the Sparrow wasn't paying attention or they were totally caught off guard.

Arcing around, the cargo ship rolled heavily propelling itself backward almost like a large sea animal crashing back into the water after being shot up. It looked deliberate.

Flaring to life the engines of the Sparrow tried to drag it out of the way, but it was too late. The cargo ship came down hard on the destroyer's port side driving them both towards the ground.

Watching the ships plummet Logan and Lilith could only stand in stunned silence as the large objects fell back to the planet's surface. The Sparrow pulled up hard, freeing itself from the bulk of the cargo ship, desperately firing every thruster it had to slow down.

Careening off after the destroyer slipped free, the cargo ship plummeted towards what Logan hoped was the edge of the city. Both ships vanished from sight, but only one loud all encompassing explosion was heard. A reactor must have detonated.

Things stood still for a moment, Lilith looked over at Logan unsure of how to process what they had witnessed. The ground beneath them vibrated for a moment from the explosion.

"We have to move." He gave her a look of urgency. Logan was pretty sure things were about to get much worse.

Lilith nodded and the pair crossed the street and continued west.

Quickening their pace, Logan did his best to stay alert, he would much prefer to be off the street at the moment. There was a strange feeling about the air, a palpable anxiety.

There were a few more distant pops that grew fainter as they moved farther away from the source. Logan didn't want to think about what the continued gunfire meant and knew they would likely have to face it at some point.

More panicked people were on the streets now. The thundering explosion tipping people past the point of calm into panic mode. More than once he thought he saw an infected person stumble from an alley, but he kept a firm pace towards their goal, only pausing to ensure Lilith was glued to him.

With people sheltering in their homes during the night there was a good chance the explosion of a ship's reactor was the first sign of trouble to many.

***

It was a brisk twenty minute walk to their destination, a rather robust looking office building with high set windows on the first floor. At first glance it was an office with bad architecture, but given Lilith's insights as to what it was used for, things made a little more sense. Windows placed high on the first floor would make them difficult to climb through and the walls seemed a little too thick.

They stepped into a doorway and Liltih began to quickly scan the first floor. "I think I can see two people inside by the door, we probably won't see much else because of the windows."

"Is there a back way in?" Logan had turned his eyes to the second floor which didn't yield much, while the windows there were bigger, they were polarized and he could barely make anything out.

Lillith thought for a moment and looked back at Logan, "There is another way in, it leads into a small storage room with some stairs going down. That's where we need to go. There is a safe where they keep the physical copies of the bio markers they take."

"My terminal can probably override the back door, likely a better way in than trying to go in the front." Holding his J7 tightly he flicked the setting to stun. Logan made a mental list of the immediate actions they needed to take, "Find the safe, destroy the copies, anything else?"

"It would probably be a good idea to dig through their computer systems for contracts and other information to delete. If we want to really disrupt their operations we will probably have better luck there." She answered.

"Once we do this we'll have to find somewhere else to hunker down for a bit. Probably find some more food as well." He replied, as he watched a group of people rush past them looking frantic. "I think we might start seeing far more infected."

Placing a hand over Logan's on the pistol, Lilith gave him a smile. "Thank you for helping me, I'm not sure if we are lucky or have terrible luck for this to be the best opportunity I've had to get out from under their thumb."

Looking back to her Logan wasn't quite sure how to respond. "I'll always help you any way I can."

Leaning in, Lilith placed a soft kiss on his lips.

Their moment was broken as two people hurried past them arguing loudly, Logan barely caught a bloodied sleeve at the edge of his vision with what looked like a bite.

Nodding to Lilith they moved back onto the street and made their way around the building, down an alley to the back door. Logan pulled up his terminal's interface and typed in a few commands to unlock the door.

When it took a moment longer than usual, he was worried that they might have finally locked him out, but it seemed his emergency override was still in play. Under normal circumstances he would have only been able to interface with doors or systems that directly pertained to whatever case he was working.

A faint beep followed by a click drew his attention to the door as it unlocked, the keypad next to it blinked green. "I'm going to crack the door and check if anyone is inside." he whispered.

As he was reaching for the door there was a faint pressure in his head and his eyes got fuzzy again. He froze for a second unsure of what was happening.

"Are you ok?" Liltih inquired from behind him, placing a hand on his back.

Holding his head and turning to her, he was surprised to see she was outlined in shades of red, orange, and green. Looking at her for a moment he quickly turned towards the building and looked at the wall. He didn't see anything on the other side, but the keypad glowed slightly green as did some of the other electronics around.

More of the items that had some form of power flowing through them glowed further in the building. Getting a little frustrated Logan rubbed his head. It was like he could see anything that gave off heat. He didn't care about electronics, only people.

The pressure in his head turned to a mild pain as the outlined items faded and two human looking shapes farther into the building showed up. They were the two by the front door.

His eyes blurred again and the heat outlines faded all together.

"Logan?" Lilith sounded worried.

"Sorry, my eyes did something strange again. I think I had some kind of thermal sense for a moment. It's gone now though, the other side of the door is clear but there are those two people by the front door." He gave her a reassuring look.

"Sounds like it would be useful if it lasted for more than a few seconds. I'm guessing that the building is going to be mostly empty, with what's going on I doubt anyone would go to work." She sounded reassured by that.

Logan opened the door slowly revealing an empty back room with some shelving. Quietly making their way in, Lilith pointed the way to a door that was recessed slightly as to hide it from direct sight.

Using his terminal he unlocked that door as well. Regardless of the manufacturer, the CAS had the ability to remotely access and operate almost every door throughout terran space. Terminals were on the list of the most tightly controlled items and their use was tied to specific individuals.

If someone took his terminal and plugged it into an unauthorized device it would fry itself. If the UCG spent half the energy they used to monitor and control auditors and used it to fix other problems, things would likely be better off.

His eyes didn't do anything as they lingered for a moment at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. Now would have been a very opportune moment for something strange to happen, but nothing did.

"Once we are down there, the safe should be in a room across the foyer, down a hall and to the left. That's the office of the guy who handles their illicit trade." Lilith's voice was quiet, but filled with anxiety and eagerness. Logan could tell this had been hanging over her for long enough and she was ready to be free.

Checking his pistol again, Logan started down the stairs slowly, trying to be as quiet as he could. They reached a landing and turned down another set of stairs that ended in a glass door.

Logan was ready for someone to be waiting for them, but the space behind the door was clear. It looked like an open meeting area with some chairs and not much else.

Stepping through the door, he held his weapon forward, but was distracted as something felt like it gave slightly under his foot. There was a high pitched noise that sounded like something charging. Turning to Lilith, Logan tried to tell her to run but he was cut short as something struck him.

Logan felt like he was on fire as energy coursed through his body, every muscle in him seized and he was unable to move. Someone was in front of him now with a look of utter disbelief. The lights began to flicker, pressure seemed like it was building throughout his body and Logan had no control over it.

Enduring as best he could, pain flooded his mind. The sensation had shifted to one of pulling, the energy seemed to be drawn into his body by something. Logan wasn't sure how much more he could take when the lights suddenly went out and he was released.

Logan slumped to the floor and the lights flickered before coming back on. He felt hot, dizzy, and full of pressure. The last thing he heard before falling unconscious was "Fuck, did you see that?"

***

Logan was vaguely aware of his surroundings but everything felt off, like he was disconnected from his body. Blinking, he could see his body in front of him, sat in a chair with his arms locked behind him in handcuffs. A strong flow of energy was radiating from him, keeping his mind away.

He could only see things within a few inches of his body, like it was his other senses providing the information. There wasn't much else to see around him, except some vague outlines of what might have been a table.

Grabbing at the air he dragged himself against the current of energy keeping him away. He didn't make much progress, focusing his mind he pushed as hard as he could. As fascinating as this was, there wasn't time to explore or understand.

Logan was determined, determined to wake up, determined to be in control again. A strong feeling washed over him like a voice telling him he wasn't ready. Ignoring it, he inched closer to his body, his incorporeal hands finding purchase on similarly invisible hand holds.

Reaching out he was a fingertip away from his shoulder, waves of warm energy pushed against him. The intent didn't feel malicious, but in that moment Logan could care less. There were things he had to do.

His finger tip touched his shoulder and everything went black. It took him a moment to realize his eyes were just closed. Logan's body hurt, as if every inch of his insides were sunburned. His muscles spasmed occasionally as pins and needles filled his fingertips. The pressure he had felt before was still there, but dulled now. A hot stone sat in the pit of his stomach.

He opened his eyes slowly and saw he was in a decent sized room with a table. A glass wall ran down one side of the room and he could see Lilith on the other side, similarly bound to a chair. She was having a heated argument with a rough looking man with short black hair.

She looked worse for wear, lines on her cheeks told him she had shed a tear or two, but she looked more angry than distraught at the moment.

Logan flexed against his restraints, trying to loosen them or get free, but the cuffs around his wrist were solid and they were magnetized to the chair. His J7 was sitting on the table in front of him with his Glass and terminal.

"Logan!" Lilith exclaimed. She must have noticed his movement and was now looking at him, calling out his name.

The man who was with her looked over and gave Logan a pretty nasty smile. "I'm just about done with you, sit here quietly while I have a talk with your friend." The man said as he patted Lilith's cheek dismissively and walked away from her to a door that connected the rooms.

"Hello there my friend, you look like shit. Though from what I've been told you're lucky to still be breathing." He sat across from Logan and gave him a smug look. "You tripped a power circuit and just about shorted out the whole building, damn thing was just meant to stun people, but you got zapped for a good while."

Logan didn't like this guy one bit, he oozed a tangible unpleasantness. "We are not friends." Logan said dismissively.

"My name is Samson Novlo and you and I are going to make a deal." He gave Logan another wicked smile.

"I'd rather not." Logan said, almost immediately.

"Well now, I think you should hear my offer before you say no. Saying no will have some rather unpleasant consequences for your girlfriend over there." Motioning at Lilith, Samson crossed his hands in front of him.

"Now you see, an auditor would be of great help to me and the people I work for. Making a deal with me is the only way to ensure you both leave here... still a member of the living." Samson kept a pretty calm demeanor.

Frowning Logan didn't like the sound of that, the way Samson had said 'member of the living' implied to him that they could leave here as something else. Did he mean the infected?

"I can see that you might have an idea of what I mean, things have been mighty crazy out there for the last twenty-four hours or so. I suppose that does mean that no one would miss you two if you went missing and showed up as walking corpses." He smiled again, his intent pretty clear.

"I was pretty shocked to find out dead people were walking around, but something tells me you've met them. Now, you're going to sign a contract with us and give me a legal copy of your bio markers." Samson pulled up a contract on his glass and projected it in front of Logan.

Giving him a curious look Logan wasn't exactly sure what Samson wanted from him. Having an auditor in your pocket didn't amount to much, unless you knew they would be assigned a case that involved you. The odds of that happening were pretty low. "You should know there's not much I can do as an auditor to help you. We don't get to choose our cases or have any real control over where we go."

"Oh I don't care about that. What we want from you is a flow of information. You can go about your silly auditor duties, we just want to be informed of who you're investigating and where." Speaking matter of factly, Samson kept a steady gaze on Logan.

"To what end?" Logan asked. "What could you possibly want with that information? Unless you're the ones being audited it doesn't make much sense to know if a random company was... about to be audited." Logan took a moment to consider and it actually did make sense now. "You want to sell that information to them for a 'fee', don't you?".