Starlight Gleaming Ch. 04

A bright green dot moved along the road near the hangar. The dot named Zoubat moved across the screen. Building twelve-thirteen, the hangar that Janetta was assigned to. The sergeant zoomed in, and three fainter cyan-colored dots suddenly appeared next to Zoubat's dot. The names Tlacotli, Tixil, and Zlatl. The time index in the lower corner flew by, and Zoubat stayed while the other three moved around inside the hangar a bit. Then a yellow dot approached from the west and entered the hangar. Kandikan. My belly went from cold to leaden.

This had to be recorded satellite feed. No signal or sign of the enlisted, but then it didn't matter. I saw the dot marked Kandikan move next to Tixil, Zlatl, and Tlatcotli, then Tixil and Zlatl flashed and faded. Then Tlacotli and Kandikan moved to Zoubat, and then his dot flashed and faded.

Without looking away from the screen, I quietly moved my hand under the desk and unhooked the safety on my belt knife. There was no way I was going to go peacefully to one of the temples to have my heart cut out or face death by torture. I didn't know how I'd fare against the Senior Sergeant. I had never seen him break out in a sweat, but he always seemed fit. I knew most of the other sergeants feared him. Still, I'd put all my hand-to-hand skills to their severest test before I'd surrender.

The screen zoomed out. The faded dots for Zoubat, Tixil, and Zlatl and the yellow dot representing me moved northeast to the waste depot. The faded dots for the three dead men remained at the depot while Kandikan moved back to the hangar.

Sensing something, the sergeant glanced at me. "Hold your horses. I'm not done," he said. His fingers moved across the keyboard, and opened another file. This one showed Zoubat and his two toadies approach the hangar, pass on by and continue toward the munitions depot. Then their dots simply disappeared. What was Itznacoco doing?

He typed out: The second file is the official scan on record. It's classified information that all officers are chipped. Happens when you get your vaccines in boot. I warned you she's dangerous. Make sure she's worth it.

I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. Officers chipped, but not enlisted.

I embarrassed Zoubat years ago, he typed. In revenge, he caught my wife in town. Took her by force. Beat her.

He paused. I knew how I had reacted when Janetta was being hurt and from the look he gave me, there was no question he loved his wife. His revealing this to me was a declaration of trust.

The sergeant resumed typing. She lost our child. No doubt about what he did to Tlacotli. The records show she went to his office twice a week. Protecting her people, wasn't she?

Stunned, I nodded. Fixing satellite records? And how did he get them before anyone else? His security rating was certainly higher than a Senior Sergeant warranted. Was he deep-cover Imperial Security?

Every base has satellite monitoring, he wrote. Don't ever forget that. In the future, watch your step.

Itznacoco opened a third file on the flash drive. In seconds the images on the screen broke up, then it went dark. Then the machine powered down, the hard drive making grinding noises. I smelled burning plastic and metal. The virus wiped the drive and added hardware corruption to the process. In an hour, the motherboard and hard drive would be melted slag.

He stood up and yanked out the data disk and dropped it into the shredder. It ground briefly, then went silent. I briefly wondered how he'd explain the loss of the computer, but figured he had that covered as well.

I exhaled slowly, my hand dropping away from my belt knife.

Senior Sergeant Itznacoco unlocked the door, then opened it. Standing in the doorway, he looked at me square in the eyes. "Congratulations and good luck, Lieutenant Kandikan." More quietly, he added, "I think you'll need it."

Then he left.

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