“Well if you prefer, we can always take the cargo elevator down,” Doran explained, “if you don’t mind getting lost in the guts of the supply network.”
“Personnel elevator it is, then.” Ogilvy conceded
“I’ve set the Wolverine’s turret to auto-defend,” Viker informed the squad, “it’ll gun down anything that comes back up this way; except for us, of course.”
“Good,” said Gabriel, “everyone, move out.”
The squad filed into the elevator and waited as the doors sealed shut behind them automatically. A set of nozzles released a fine spray, filling the space with a translucent white cloud of anti-hazard chemicals which circulated around the enclosed space for a minute before being sucked out again by the nozzles. Once the decontamination process was complete, the elevator began to slide downwards on a diagonal rail into the depths below.
“Remember,” Gabriel reminded the squad, “this is an IRS op. Investigate the facility, retrieve any useful data, and scrub any threats. Survivors are potential intelligence assets, but ultimately expendable.”
“Understood.” The squad chorused.
“What do you think we’ll find down there, colonel?” Cato asked.
“If I knew, we wouldn’t be heading there in the first place,” Gabriel replied before adding gravely, “but usually these sorts of ops are glorified police raids. Teams of regular agents storm the place, cuff everybody, and seize anything of interest. If the DNI is sending us in, it’s because everybody’s already dead.”
“How much resistance is there usually?”
“Well, no one wants to be arraigned on xenotech possession charges.” Gabriel replied, “That’s a reasonable incentive to shoot back. But like I said, if we’re being sent in, whatever experiments they were conducting must have gotten them killed. Any survivors will gladly take a prison cell in exchange for safety.”
“Well if they are stupid enough to shoot at us, we’ll kill them first!” Ogilvy said.
“Damn right!” Doran added his own bravado.
The squad’s morale was high heading down towards what could be certain death. High morale was a good thing, technically. But listening to their bravado made something click in Gabriel’s mind: the real reason he was uncomfortable leading a squad.
Their camaraderie, their banter, their bonds of friendship; it mattered at least as much to them as the mission itself, if not more. Furthermore, all of them undoubtedly assumed that he felt the same level of commitment to the unit as they did.
He didn’t. A voidstalker was a lone wolf, there was no room for bonds of comradeship. If Gabriel were forced to choose between the squad and the mission…
He would leave them all to die.
THE FACILITY
Eventually, the DNI agents completed their search, departing as quickly as they had come. No arrests were made, no equipment was seized, no areas were cordoned off, and no court summons were issued. They simply finished what they were doing and left. Once they were gone, all the staff were summoned to the breakroom for a meeting with the chief legal officer.
J.E. Co.’s chief legal officer was a tall, slim woman, seemingly devoid of emotion or the capacity to overreact; the virtual opposite of the short, stout, irascible man who chaired the company. Aster disliked her intensely. Apart from her cool and stilted attitude, she looked like Jezebel Thorn without the smile, right down to the black-and-gold hair colouring.
“Let me begin by assuming that each and every one of you adhered unwaveringly to your employment contracts, and especially to the nondisclosure clauses stipulated therein.” She began, the force of her implied threat smothered by her dull tone and legalistic phrasing, “and let me finish by reminding you that as long as you fulfil your obligations to the company, the company will fulfil its obligations to you.”
“All the project data was secured to an off-site server before the DNI raid,” Dr Felix Kessler reassured everyone, “they won’t have found anything by searching the computers here, and it’s subject to corporate privilege, anyway.”
“Good.” Said the legal officer.
“Like that would matter to the spooks,” somebody snorted cynically, “just like the phrases ‘due process’ and ‘probable cause’.”
“Corporate privilege means that such data is deemed inadmissible as evidence during litigation proceedings unless specifically requested through the process of legitimate legal discovery.” The legal officer explained dryly, “A raid by the intelligence services does not constitute legitimate legal discovery.”
The scientists stared at her blankly.
“That means even if the DNI somehow got hold of the data, it cannot be used against you in a court of law.” The legal officer translated.
“Has there been any information from the board?” Aster asked.
“Regarding what, specifically?” the legal officer asked.
“Instructions, guidance, advice, anything to show some leadership or direction?” Aster clarified, frustrated by the stonewalling and that annoyingly blank look.
“The board is still assessing the company’s position regarding the DNI raid,” the legal officer replied, “once that assessment is complete, new instructions will be provided.”
“What about the Loki facility?” someone shouted from near the back, “we heard that something happened up there, is that true?”
“That’s a confidential matter.” was the blunt response.
“But we’ve all heard rumours that–”
“Nothing happened at the facility on Loki about which any of you need to be concerned,” the legal officer said in a sharply dismissive tone, “New information and guidance will be communicated to you as and when it becomes available via the company intranet. Until then, go about your day as normal.”
With that perfunctory statement, J.E. Co.’s chief legal officer abruptly departed before the heckling could begin in earnest, leaving the assembled staff standing in confused silence. Apart from a vague and veiled threat about not betraying the company, they still had no idea what was going on or what to do next.
“As project-lead, I say we continue our simulations.” Aster announced, breaking the awkward silence, “No live testing until the board says otherwise.”
“I heard a rumour that the DNI arrested Chairman Darius.” Someone declared.
“There’s no proof of that,” Aster responded, “and rumours won’t help the situation.”
“But that’s how these things start,” someone else cut in, “first the executives are arrested or skip town, then the company gets raided–”
“I don’t know if anything at all has happened to the chairman and neither do you.” Aster shut him down, “right now, the most we can do is go about the rest of the day.”
“All the DNI agents wanted to know about Lawrence Kane.” One of the engineers spoke up, “But I didn’t see them search his office.”
“They did search his office,” somebody else called out, “I saw them go in. Maybe they were looking for something Dr Kane might have gotten hold of?”
“It doesn’t matter what they were here for,” Aster interjected, “what matters is that nobody is in trouble. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
“What about the Loki facility?” another engineer asked.
“What about it?” Aster pursed her lips at the question.
“She wouldn’t tell us what happened up there.”
“And what makes you think I would know?” Aster demanded impatiently.