Chapter 16
Marco
Walking with determination in every line of his body, Marco made quick progress. The other people in the hallway parted around him, some on reflex, others after it became clear he wasn't going to be the one to slide to one side. He took a right, another right, went up two flights of stairs, pushed through two sets of glass doors, and then stalked down the long, carpeted hallway.
The office, when he entered, was occupied.
"Sir," Marco said coolly. The vice-admiral glanced up from his computer. His expression instantly soured.
"Marco."
The papers in Marco's hand dropped onto the desk. "The reports yoi."
"Signed?"
"Yes."
"Ordered?"
"Yes."
The vice-admiral grunted. "You may go." When Marco didn't move, the vice-admiral glared. "Dismissed."
Marco's scowl broke through and the vice-admiral heaved a sigh.
"For god's sake, man, I am not fast-tracking your request for departmental transfer. You've been here a week."
"You have me in tectonics," Marco replied. "My specialty is surface-level formations. Sir."
The vice-admiral rolled his eyes. "Please. Everyone here knows you hate me. No need to pretend there's respect between us."
Marco fixed the vice-admiral with a heavy stare. "Then, with all due respect, you are wasting me."
After a silent contest of wills, the vice-admiral threw up his hands. "If I finally sign that damn paper, will you stop insisting on being the one to carry all the paperwork up here?"
"I will do my very best to never see you again yoi."
"Good."
"I cannot believe you actually managed to get that old coot to agree."
Marco filled his cup and took a drink. An errant strand of dyed-black hair fell into his cup and he fished it out. "It took some effort."
His closest colleague at this godforsaken base, Barry, snorted. "That's an understatement. You two have been throwing dirty looks at each other practically since you got here."
Debating between refilling his cup and not, Marco eventually tossed his cup into the small waste basket next to the water cooler. "He was the one who had me put into tectonics when that was not at all my area yoi."
"Well, I'll be sad to see you go. Things were just heating up, too."
Marco fell into step next to Barry. "How's that?"
"You haven't heard? Right, I guess you'd be busy getting your stuff moved. Bovekk has been throwing off all kinds of strange readings. Spikes in infrared radiation in particular—levels we haven't seen this time of year…ever, actually, I think."
Suddenly very aware of the tone of his voice, Marco chose his words carefully. "Isn't it entering its active cycle?"
"That's what Joanne suggested, but it's never been this active in the first year of its twenty-year cycle before."
"Records have to be set at some point."
"I suggested a flyby to get up-close visual confirmation. Maybe Farrow's storms are impacting the magnetic field enough to affect its moons."
"To be fair, we can monitor all of that from here."
"You sound exactly like Jem."
Marco's lips twisted into a frown at the thought, but he didn't have a choice. "Just think about it in terms of budget, then. If you take funds to send a ship or three out there to confirm what we already know, another project isn't going to get funded, and another department is going to come after your head."
Barry grumbled. "Here for a week and you're already better at all this politics stuff than I am."
"It's a curse."
"Yeah, yeah. How do you like the new department? Tectonics is boring without you."
"Better offices."
"Really?"
Marco nodded. "Larger. With windows."
"You're pulling my leg."
"Possibly." They split to let a folder-laden cart pass through. "I am enjoying it, though. It is nice to be in a department that I am qualified for yoi."
"You're overqualified."
Marco shot Barry a look he made questioning instead of suspicious at the last possible instant. "What makes you say that?"
"I dunno, man." Barry made a loose gesture. "Something about you, I guess. I know you're not allowed to talk about where you were last stationed, but, I mean…you were clearly high up the food chain, even if they stuck you at rock bottom here."
Marco flashed back to his time at the IPEC. He thought about his nice, spacious office with a breathtaking view of the North Blue. He thought about the cart that rolled through at precisely eight p.m. each night that served the best coffee in the entire complex. He sighed.
"Something like that yoi. Something like that."
This time, when Marco strode through the halls, he was not trying to command attention. Nor was he trying to get anything from his destination. It was late, but not unconscionably so, and Marco's mind was half-filled with his responsibilities for the next day. The other half was focused on his surroundings, noting cameras, windows, and marines. No one paid much attention to him; Marco was, despite his harassment of the base leader, near the bottom of the rankings.
He found his midway point: the men's restroom. Spread out between two large conference rooms, the bathroom had two exits, only one of which was covered by a camera. Marco spent a minute making sure he was truly alone. On his way out, he caught sight of himself in the mirror. Still unused to the glasses and black hair, he momentarily thought there was someone else with him. But no, it was his own reflection, as unfamiliar as it was. He shook his head. He would get used to it eventually.
Emerging back into the hallway via the unmonitored door, Marco picked up the pace. He had four minutes before his disappearance got suspicious. Now reaching hallways that were largely empty, he surreptitiously skirted the cameras' cones of visibility and nodded wordlessly at anyone he happened to make eye contact with.
The drop point was unremarkable, which was entirely the point. A rusting air vent in the back of a rarely used office only occupied when the stronghold reached capacity, which was far from the case at the moment. Marco slid the datadrive through the slats, turned, and retraced his steps. He would get no confirmation of pickup, no indication that the information was actually going anywhere. All he knew was that, each time he visited that vent, it was empty.
Please review.
