Chapter 45

Hyperspace, near the Sol system: AbBot sat at the controls of his ship and watched the signals that his ship had captured. Most were simple and boring, but every once in a while he found one that was interesting or a challenge. He thought about the signal he had copied a few weeks ago, now that signal was a real piece of work. Multiple encryptions and safeguards, several false clues in the message that had made the final decryption very difficult. AbBot smiled and thought, "This guy is more paranoid than anyone I've ever met. Even for a Centauri."

But now was not the time for such musings, he had a task to perform for his biggest clients. He didn't mind working for the Vorlons, even though they kept to themselves, and seemed a little weird. They did pay well. This little job alone would keep him set for a few years, and besides, he knew of this little bar in Minsk that made one of the best Jovian sunspots that he had ever had.

...
He was soon coming up on the jump gate, and was quickly passed into the Sol system. He set his course for Earth, and then leaned back in his seat and started to watch an old earth show that he had discovered. It was too bad that the only episode he wanted to see had been lost to a solar flare. He smiled as he thought to himself, "If I could get a hold of that show, I could really make a bundle."

The music of the show started, and he watched the monitor as the name of the show flashed on it. DALLAS. He watched the show, and soon his ship was coming up on earth. He contacted the local space control and was given clearance to land in Minsk. After he landed, he made his way to a public communications stand and place a call to a private number he had. The person answered rather briskly, "Who is this."

AbBot smiled to himself, "Now Stew, is that anyway to talk to an old friend?"

"Listen, we have never been friends."

AbBot smiled, "Oh Stew you wound Me." and he sighed.

"Get over it, what do you want?"

"Well Stew, I really don't want anything. But I do have something that you might want, in the very near future."

He could almost hear the person on the other end of the call thinking. "Alright, where and when?"

AbBot smiled again, "Greta's in an hour, the first rounds on you."

"One hour." and the call clicked off.

...
Stewart Michaels looked around the small tavern, and located AbBot sitting in a booth in the back. He smirked to himself; AbBot was still wearing the rather gaudy outfit that he liked so much, including that oversized hat of his. He made his way to the booth, and saw that there were two Jovian sunspots on the table already. "Starting a little early Abe?"

AbBot looked up at him, "Not really, I just got here."

Stewart sat down and looked at him. "So what do you have?"

AbBot looked at him, "What, no reminiscing, no how you been?"

Stewart just looked at him; he knew that if Abe was here with information to sell, it was probably very important, or very expensive. From his experience, it was usually both. "Listen Abe, I'm a busy man, and I don't have time to play games."

AbBot looked at him, "That's right. I heard you got promoted. So what's it like being the number three man at EAID?"

Stewart smiled a little, "It has its moments."

"Right."

Now Stewart looked at him and the smile disappeared quickly. "What do you have?"

AbBot looked at him, "My current associates have heard that you recently had a little trouble with the Centauri."

Stewart's expression never changed, this bit of news was not that new to him He had been given the task of gathering Intel on the incident in the Edding system only two days ago; He decided to play it cool. "That's news to me, we have nothing but good relations with the Centauri"

AbBot looked at him, then took a drink of his sunspot. "Then I guess you won't want a copy of the communication they picked up from the Centauri. It makes for some really fun listening."

Stewart knew that if Abe had a copy of the Centauri communication, and he was here offering it to him, then it must be one hell of a message. Now Stewart looked at AbBot, "You know me to well Abe. I never look a gift horse in the mouth."

Stewart's face again took on a serious look. "So how much?"

AbBot looked at him now, "Well since my associates were actually looking for something else when this nugget fell into my lap, they said I could do what I wanted with it. And since I knew that you just got promoted, I figured that if I help you out now, then you may be able to help me in the future."

Stewart looked at him and smiled. Now he spoke just above a whisper, "What's going on Abe? A little I scratch your back you stab mine?"

"Not at all Stew, I'm just padding my nest for a possible future favor."

AbBot took another swallow of his drink, and then reached under his hat. He pulled out a data crystal and set it on the table, and then he put a paper with a series of numbers on it beside it.

"I decrypted most of it, but I left the last cipher in place. These numbers will finish the decryption. Just give this a listen Stew. If it helps you out, then maybe someday you can help me out. If not, then what the heck, no blood no foul."

AbBot picked up his drink and finished it. "Well I got to go Stew. See you later buddy."

Then as he slid out of the booth, he turned and looked at Stew, "Don't forget to tip the waitress Stew." and smiled as he walked toward the door.

...
Stewart Michaels watched as AbBot left the bar, and then he picked up the data crystal. Now he wondered to himself, "What's on this crystal that is so important that Abe thinks it will warrant him a future favor?"

Stewart Michaels sat took out his data reader and a pair of glasses. He placed the crystal in the reader, and pulled a thin cord from the reader and plugged it into the glasses. He then put on the glasses and started the reader, and then he typed in the numbers on the sheet of paper. To say he was shocked was putting it mildly. After he watched the data, he took off the glasses and put everything except the crystal and the paper in one of his pockets. He then put the crystal and the paper in another pocket and got up and placed several bills on the table.

Now he thought to himself, "If this is genuine Abe, then you just earned yourself a favor, maybe two."

He headed out the door and hailed a taxi, and told the cabbie to take him to the spaceport. He then caught the first sub orbital to Geneva, knowing that his boss would want to see this.

...
When he arrived in Geneva, he headed to the earth dome and took a special elevator to one of the subbasement levels. He headed to one of the unmarked office doors and pressed his thumb against the pad by the door. He then entered and saw a young woman with her eyes closed, and she was gently rapping on a computer pad.

"Wake up Nara, I've got a rush job for you."

She opened one eye and looked at him, "So what else is new?"

He placed the crystal in front of her, and smiled. She put the crystal in her reader, and the screen showed only static, and an occasional blip.

"This is encrypted boss, and judging by the pattern of the static and the blips, I would guess that it's at least a ten symbol cipher."

He now put the paper in front of her, "Fifteen actually."

She looked at him and he saw her getting upset. "You already had the cipher, and you didn't tell me."

He smiled at her, "Now Nara, don't get upset. I just wanted to see how good an encryption it was. Besides, I need you to confirm if this is genuine or not."

She just looked at him, and then typed in the cipher. She to couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Now Stew looked at her, "Now you see why we have to verify if this is real or not."

Nara just nodded her head, and quickly made a copy of the data. She handed him the crystal and then pushed back from the computer. He watched as she started her crazy stretching routine, and he smiled to himself. "If she's stretching this much, then she's expecting it to be a tough job."

"Do you need me to get you anything?"

She looked at him, "Yeah, ten pro-bars and a large pot of coffee."

He nodded, and headed for the cafeteria.

...
After several hours and at least one more trip to the cafeteria, Nara slid back from the computer. "Well boss, from all the tests I've run on it, I'm sure this is the real deal."

"How sure Nara?"

She looked at him, "I would say about 97 percent boss."

He just looked at her; she almost never gave any recording above an 80 percent chance of being real.

"That's all I needed to know."

He picked up the crystal and the paper, and put them in his pocket. "I've got to go see the director. He's definitely going to want to see this."

...
Director Iverson's Office Earth-dome: Stewart Michaels entered the outer office, and looked at the man sitting at the desk, "I need to speak to him, is he in?"

"One moment sir."

The man pressed a device on his temple, "Sir, Mr. Michaels is here to see you."

After a moment he pressed a button on his desk, "Go right in sir."

Michaels entered the next room and waited as he was scanned, then he proceeded into the director's office. He saw his boss at his desk, and it looked like he was getting ready to leave.

"You've got 2 minutes, Stew, the President just called and wants to see me in 5 minutes."

He looked at the director, and pulled out the data crystal and the cipher, "You may want to see this first sir." he placed the crystal in the reader on the director's desk and entered the cipher

Both men watched what was on the crystal, and the Director then looked at him.

"How well do you know your source?"

"He's one of the best at what he does sir."

"Have you verified this?"

"As best we could sir, my people believe that the chances of it being genuine is 97 percent."

The director gave him a skeptical look, "Nara said 97 percent?"

"Yes sir."

Now the director smiled, "Well then, this puts things in a whole new light then."

The director got up and picked up the crystal and the cipher and put them in his pocket. "I'm taking this with me, the President will want to see this. Good work Stew."

"Thank you sir."

...
President Levy's Office Earth-dome: President Levy had asked for her chief of staff and senior advisors to come to her office, and now they were only awaiting the arrival of Director Iverson. Once he arrived, she told them of how the negotiations had gone, and of the treaty that had been reached with the Minbari. Now she informed them of the idea that had been brought up, and asked for their opinions. To her surprise, the others actually agreed with her. Now they began to lay the groundwork for getting the rest of Earth-gov to see the benefits of the idea. After a few hours, they had worked out a rough schedule and decided to end the meeting. After everyone else had left, Director Iverson waited to talk to the President privately.

"Madam President, I think I have something that you're going to need to see."

She looked at him and he glanced at her desk for a moment. She walked over and activated a switch on the desk and he heard the soft hiss of the white noise device as it activated.

"So what do you need to show me?" He pulled out a data crystal and placed it in the reader on her desk. He typed in the cipher and they watched the data in silence.

Once it was finished, she looked at him, and he could see the anger in her eyes. "How sure are your people that this is real?"

"Our experts are putting the percentage in the high 90's madam President."

She looked at him, "That high?"

"Yes ma'am."

Now she sat down on one of the couches and looked at him. "Senator Sobetski has told me that the Centauri may be a little hesitant at accepting this idea. But I think we can use what you just showed me to help them to see the light of the situation."

"That's what I was thinking ma'am."

"Director, I want you to meet with the 'ambassador' and try to get him to see things our way. But please be discreet."

His face showed just the slightest hint of a smile, "I always am Madam President."