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Chapter 12 – Unexpected Results
Among all the worlds and peoples in the Alliance, the Manarians filled one of the most significant roles. Despite generations of Wraith suppression, the Manarians had managed to create a communications network across their planet long before the days of the Alliance. The network, with watchers always stationed by their Portal, had been able to alert the entire planet within moments if a Portal activation had turned out to be suspicious, or if Wraith ships were spotted descending from the skies. The early warning system had saved thousands, if not millions of lives over the years.
It had been the Manarians who had worked with Rosenthal as two of the first worlds to team up together against the Wraith, and as more forces grew, it had been Manarian communications technology that had kept them all in contact.
As such, as soon as Alliance held space had been created, the Manarians had quickly established their technology in orbit above their planet, using assistance from their space-faring new allies, and within a handful of years, communications across the growing Wraith-free Alliance space had been fully functional.
In the years that had passed since those early days, Manaria had become the world that took care not only of all the Alliance ship and planetary communications, but the Alliance wide Links system which allowed real-time subspace communication over vast distances. As a result, Manaria had become the centre of almost all manufacture, maintenance, and development of communications technology, and their solar system was filled with multiple communications satellites. They had even installed two more Portals in the system – one for easy access to their own stations and another used for ship transport above Manaria.
Among the Links satellites established in the Manaria system, there were "hubs", which were working small stations that looked after the satellites and constantly monitored the Links systems. The hub in Sector 18 of the Manarian communications system was a little more special. It not only worked on its local communications, but it was larger, enabling satellites to be navigated in and repaired without having to be removed from space and replaced from Manaria. As such the Sector 18 hub station held some of the most talented in Manaria engineers.
One such an engineer was Malaca.
Manarians were exceptionally intelligent and trained from youth on electronics, but Malaca had that special level of genius that made his people proud. Yet, as was often the way with such individuals, he had been born with zero interest in advancement within his field. He was only interested in computers. To him, working with code and electronics was an art form and some said the man even dreamt in code. Of course, he still had to make a living, so he had set himself up as a freelance engineer, with his people giving him his own personal workshop on the Sector 18 hub in return for his personal attention on any and all satellites that required repair or upgrade. In return, he kept a careful and mothering watch over the Links satellites and was something of a silent vital cog in the turning of the network.
That was his day job.
His other job, the one that he much preferred, was to tinker.
Seeal was a fan of tinkering. Most engineers and hackers learnt a lot from tinkering, and Malaca was a genius at it when it came to computers. It was that skill and his somewhat lax attention to anything that might limit his interest, such as legal restrictions, which had led to him being approached on occasion for "extra projects" by interested parties. If you needed to break into a high level security lock, Malaca was the one to go to. The Tile Brothers, considered the greatest hackers in the galaxy, had a friendly relationship with Malaca, having introduced themselves to him years ago by hacking into one of the communications hub. The hack had been so effective that it had caught Malaca's personal attention, and in return for their having pointed out the hole in the security system of the hub, Malaca had solved a small hacking code problem for the brothers.
Seeal knew that the Tile Brothers still talked with Malaca over text link regularly, sharing code and information on systems. She was almost certain that they had worked as a team on a particular electronic bank heist a few years back, though she had never actually asked directly. What she did know was that the brothers had never again hacked into the Manarian Links system. Even among criminal circles it was considered rude to do so, and after his years of secretly assisting people with certain problems, Malaca had quite a few rich and powerful friends who would quite happily go looking for any who might cause trouble for him. Even Creass had respected Malaca's reputation.
The funny thing was that Malaca really didn't care about political lines, reputations, who was rich and who wanted to be, what the legal lines were, or even the moral ones – all he cared about was tinkering. His personal workshop on the Sector 18 hub was legendary among the right people, not just because of his talent, but because he had one of the most impressive electronic collections in the Alliance. If someone was shopping for a particularly unusual piece of tech, Malaca was the man to visit. Seeal had purchased a few pieces of her own best tech from his workshop.
She should have known he would be behind Toshka's code. The new code was the work of not only a true genius, but one with enough obsession and time on his hands to work the thing into life, and it was said that Malaca didn't sleep. The story was obviously apocryphal, but Seeal had never seen the man look even vaguely tired regardless of the time of day she had visited. It was sometimes that way with the truly obsessive and inspired.
Creass had said that the man got off on his work and it was all he needed – no woman, no man, and he only cared about currency enough to buy him the components he wanted. Not that Malaca probably couldn't get hold of any components he wanted for free from Manaria, or through his powerful friends across the Alliance.
Seeal imagined that Toshka had paid pretty damn well for that computer code.
It also made Seeal wonder what Saoka might have acquired from Malaca's genius, since he part owned the station. Most planets in the Alliance gave currency to Manaria for the upkeep of the communications links, but few could actually pay for an entire station, and one of their biggest too. She suspected Malaca had done a lot of work for Saoka and she had to wonder what Saoka did for him in return. In fact it was that example of Malaca's reach that was worrying her somewhat.
When it came to linchpins in secret connections and networks, Malaca was pretty prefect. His extra-curricular activities were only known by those in the know, he wasn't a person of interest to Division or Enforcement, and he had no personal political associations. When it came to quiet sources of intell, Malaca was pretty damn well placed, plus he had that flexible approach to rules. If Oneakka and the Elite were looking for someone to provide them some real proper intell on the secret powers in the Alliance, then Malaca would be it.
The problem was that as soon as an Elite warrior, a Satedan Military Councillor and an Elite Security Lead walked into Malaca's workshop, the ditch-rats they were hunting would scuttle away and never return. Just like they had on Dreamstation after the Elite had paid their little visit. Malaca's usefulness would end abruptly and they would lose insight and access to the secret connections they were hunting.
There was nothing more useful than a quiet unseen talkative person placed in the most opportune of places.
Now that she thought about it, she was a perfect example of that truth. She had not been a player in Creass' affairs at all, yet she had witnessed it all from her position as Security Lead, and here she was able to provide the Elite and the Alliance with more information than Creass and his previous associates could imagine. She hadn't been important really, other than to keep the peace on Dream, but she had the power to bring down major organisations, including Creass. She had had no problem in supplying all the information she could now to the Elite, but she still refused to reveal Creass' location. She still owed him that much. That tiny speck of protection for what he had done for her in the past.
Right now she could provide something of a brake on a similar situation with Malaca. If he stayed where he was, untouched by the Elite, as least publically, he could be an amazing source for them.
The trick was working out how to persuade Oneakka not to steam into Malaca's workshop, threaten to kill him, and destroy the whole plan. There were ways to explain away an Elite turning up on the Hub, but not if he was known to have been manhandling Malaca. Oneakka needed to stay out of this upcoming interview – in fact he would be best if he wasn't even present.
How she was going to be able to talk him into that was still up for grabs.
She watched Oneakka walking ahead of her now, his pale arms relaxed at his sides as they all stepped off their transport which had brought them here from the small local Manarian Portal established on the edge of the communications spread. Oneakka's presence had caused an immediate reaction on the tiny Portal station, which was a reaction she was almost getting used to now. Not only was Oneakka an Elite, which probably made everyone think Wraith were about to turn up and kill them all, but the facial tattoos and the grim 'don't mess with me' angry stare made people scatter away from him as quickly as their legs could carry them.
Edfu, however, had shared some quiet words with the Portal station's security staff and they had been escorted to a small transport vessel that the Manarians used to visit the hubs and check over the satellites. Edfu had piloted the small vessel from the station through Sector 19 and 18 to the large Sector 18 hub station.
The communication hubs weren't like Saoka's other stations, or even the military's stations. There were no large shopping halls or leisure facilities, they were working stations. Only authorised personnel were allowed to even approach a hub, let alone walk around it, and getting authorisation was a headache. Seeal knew because she had bypassed the system to get onto the hub in the past herself. Once you were on the station you were usually in the clear, because there just weren't that many people walking the hallways. Those that did walk around were disinterested techs and a limited number of security, who assumed you had permission to be there.
Which was useful today, because the fewer people who saw her and Oneakka's motley unlikely team the better.
Seeal cast her gaze around the small atrium set off the docking section into the hub. She studied each face she could see, waiting to see if any would be familiar. It didn't take long as there were only seven people, three of which were security.
One of the three guards on duty stepped forward respectfully towards Oneakka, the man's eyes also sliding to Edfu and Dex close on Seeal's heels.
"Honoured Elite," the guard began, bowing his head to Oneakka. Seeal instantly decided that the guard had a proper Military background, his straight back and ease in approaching Oneakka telling enough for her. "How can we be of assistance?"
"None," Oneakka replied in his usual blunt way, but he did stop as he reached the guard. "Internal investigation," was all he added.
The guard nodded with some understanding. "Should I put my people on alert?" He asked directly in return.
Oneakka glanced at the two other guards who were younger and more awe struck. "No, nothing on record."
"There is no perceived danger to the hub," Edfu assured further.
The first guard nodded again. "Understood. If you require any assistance, Honoured Elite, we are available," he added to Oneakka.
Oneakka nodded faintly, but his attention was already moving past the guard, sliding over all the few other people moving through the atrium. They all looked away quickly, all appearing to be normal station crew to Seeal's eyes.
"Thank you for your assistance," Edfu smiled at the guard, but the man was already retreating, leaving Oneakka to his work.
Seeal watched as the guard returned to the other guards, who were still standing with their mouths practically hanging open. Working security on a communications hub station was probably rather boring work, so seeing an Elite arrive would probably be the highlight of the young men's lives.
Poor things, Seeal mused, as she followed Oneakka as he strode across the atrium, heading towards the central staircase that she had already told him would lead both up and down further into the station.
They were headed down the levels – somewhat appropriately really.
"How often have you been here?" Edfu asked her as he fell into step alongside her. On the trip to the Portal station he had been full of probing questions and had presented more of his charismatic beaming smiles. As he had piloted the transport vessel here, she had been saved the pleasant interrogation, but he was starting up again.
"Once or twice," she replied as Oneakka led the way down the white staircase.
A woman coming up the steps hadn't noticed them, too interested in reading her electronic pad, and she only noticed Oneakka's fast approach at the last minute. Gasping in worried shock, the female tech immediately flattened herself against the wall. Oneakka moved past her without comment, but Edfu quickly stepped in.
"Routine visit, do not be alarmed," Edfu told the woman with a gentle touch to her arm as they passed her on the stairs. "Please speak to the guards in the atrium," he instructed, probably with one of his beaming smiles.
"Strange that you would be allowed on the station," Edfu continued to Seeal without missing a beat. Seeal guessed he was used to cleaning up emotionally after an Elite had been around. "How did you manage it?"
"You look the way people expect and behave the right way, you can get in anywhere," she told him.
"I suppose that is logical, but impressive nonetheless," Edfu replied.
She ignored the compliment.
"Have the famous Tile Brothers been here?" He asked.
She smiled at him. "How would I know?" Why would Edfu think to ask about them?
He smiled back. "A woman of your worldly knowledge and connections would probably know if they had entered Alliance space. From what you have told us about Malaca, I suspect you met him through the Tile Brothers, and since you are now working for us-"
"Us being the Elite?" She interrupted, seeing if he would misstep at realising he had put himself on the same level as the Elite warriors.
"Us being the Alliance," Edfu correctly easily.
"I'm working with you, not for you," she clarified as Oneakka reached the correct level for Malaca's shop and turned into the main circular corridor that led a full loop around the level.
"That could always change," Edfu replied, his voice pleasant enough, though the words seemed to hold a threat.
She glanced at him with a frown.
"Have you given any thought to where you plan to go after you finish assisting the Elite?" he asked.
"Not yet, I suppose it depends on how long it will take for me to be able leave," she replied, returning her attention to Oneakka in front of them.
She realised that he was closer than normal, only a couple of paces ahead, not storming forward expecting everyone else to just keep up with him. That he was walking slower could only mean one thing – he was listening in to her conversation with Edfu.
Probably looking for a moment to interject an objection to something she said. She was tempted to say something wrong just to see if he would interrupt and prove her suspicion.
"From the information you have already supplied and the detailed criminal database you are building up on the Sythus, I imagine it will not take too long," Edfu suggested, drawing her attention back to him.
"I think it's going to take a lot more work than that," she replied, both honestly and because Oneakka was listening.
"If that is so," Edfu continued, "then perhaps there are other avenues of assisting the Elite further that you have not considered yet."
"Such as?" She asked glancing ahead – they were almost to the turning off towards Malaca's workshop. There was a sign hanging from the ceiling displaying the way to go, which Oneakka would clearly see, but she would still point it out to him.
"How did you know Karthig was the likely traitor on the Sythus?" Edfu asked, once again surprising her.
She looked at him with more focus, looking across his symmetrical handsome features, seeing curiosity and something like to flirtation in his expression.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"You apparently picked Karthig out of several suspects," Edfu reminded her, though she remembered easily enough. "How did you know it was him? Exactly?" She wasn't surprised at the interrogation, after all it was his job to understand what she had seen. He wanted to understand what his people had missed. She would probably do the same in his position.
"It was obvious," she replied simply.
"How?"
"The way he behaved," she replied in piecemeal form.
Edfu grinned at her, seeming to think it was a game. As long as he didn't think he was winning. "Are you always this difficult to question?"
"What do you think?" She responded with a smile of her own before looking ahead. "The next turn," she instructed Oneakka.
"I see it," Oneakka replied immediately. He crossed in front of a tech coming the other way, making the man falter in his steps, and headed into the corridor. Seeal and Edfu followed him, Dex walking strangely quiet behind them.
She glanced over her shoulder at the Satedan. He met her gaze immediately. The anger and frustration from before were gone, or at least better controlled. He seemed more contained, almost thoughtful now.
During the trip here in the transport vessel, he and Oneakka had talked about Toshka's computer core, about how it would not be released until the code was broken, regardless of the law. Oneakka's insistence and confident promise of that to Dex had seemed to take the fire out of the Satedan.
She had kept silent during the trip, listening in, but knowing that they knew she was. She had still learnt some very interesting information. Such as the fact that Dex and Oneakka were apparently friends, despite the confrontation back on the Sythus about her involvement.
The longer she spent around Oneakka the more she was having to adapt her view of him. The damn stubbornness of the self-confident warrior with blunt honesty was the picture of the ultimate Elite warrior, focused on killing Wraith and letting nothing get in his way. However, it was turning out that he had more depth than that. The man had friends. People he socialised with. She found it difficult to picture him relaxing at all, let alone sharing a mug of beer with a Satedan. And the conversation Dex and Oneakka had had in the transport suggested that quite a few beers had been had during the last social event. Oneakka had fun? While doing something other than ordering people around or killing Wraith? Next thing he would be laughing or something even crazier.
Whatever the friendship between the two men looked like in actual fact, it had been clear to her that Dex wasn't holding the confrontation back on the Sythus against Oneakka. Against her, yes, but not Oneakka.
During the trip here Dex had bluntly asked Oneakka why he trusted her, and Oneakka had replied that she was easy to read and control. She had broken her still and silent routine at that. She had opened her mouth and turned to give the man a piece of her mind only to find Oneakka had been watching her with what had looked like amusement in his eyes. She had shut her mouth, denying him the reaction he had tried to provoke, and had looked away.
The moment replayed in her mind now as she followed the Elite warrior down the last section of corridor towards Malaca's techno nest. The overly white walls, that reflected the hub's standard decor, made Oneakka's already pale skin seem bright under the direct lights. The darker tones of his body armour covering his torso stood out in stark contrast, his brown hair and the dark handles of his weapons at his lower back and waist all the more apparent. His arms, always bare from the shoulder down, hung loosely at his sides, his hands relaxed – he was at ease on this station.
As she was. Despite what she had told Edfu, she had walked this corridor a good handful of times over the last four years since it had become operational. Glancing up subtly, she confirmed that there was no sign of any security feed watching the station's hallways. The station was considered highly secure, and thus no one seemed to worry about installing surveillance beyond the entrance atrium. It had been relatively easy for her to get onto the hub in the past, and she hadn't lied to Edfu about how she had gone unquestioned - it was amazing what the right attitude and a subtle disguise could achieve.
However, it was far harder to conceal Oneakka's presence on the station. She still wasn't sure how she was going to handle him regarding Malaca, but she had decided to deal with it at the last minute. Getting Oneakka do to anything was clearly as difficult as keeping that goat in the Hypdroponics Bay, but she hoped that basic logic would work this time.
"How did you know?" Edfu asked, pushing at his former questions yet again and pulling her from her internal assessment of the Elite in front of her.
She quickly replayed their conversation – Karthig, Edfu had wanted to know about Karthig. "How someone behaves when they're not with other people can say more than when they are," she replied.
"Of course," Edfu responded immediately. "But what was it? Specifically," he pushed. He was determined.
She didn't have time for this though, they were almost at their destination and she had to speak to Oneakka before they reached the last section of corridor.
"He didn't like people," she replied simply to Edfu and quickened her step to reach Oneakka.
"We need to discuss our approach before we go in there," she told Oneakka's back and shoulder.
"The approach is through the door," Oneakka replied as if he hadn't understood her true meaning, but she knew that he had. He was purposefully playing blunt and ignorant.
"If you want to get the most from Malaca, we need to go about this sensibly," she stressed, suggesting that Oneakka was not being sensible.
He didn't rise to the obvious bait, but just kept walking down the empty white corridor.
This was no good. "Honoured Elite," she tried, "we have to handle him carefully."
"I won't kill him," Oneakka replied simply. "Yet."
She was almost certain that he didn't actually mean that. Despite all the talk about the brutality of the Elite, she had seen next to no excessive aggression in any of them, other than in the form of arrogant self-confidence. Oneakka was very confident, but he did listen. He had proven that he would listen to her – not always agree, but he did at least listen.
And she needed him to listen now. She looked ahead – one more corner till they would see Malaca's workshop entrance.
She needed to stop Oneakka now, make him see sense.
There was only one more option and she went for it.
She reached out towards Oneakka's closest bare arm, catching hold of him just above his elbow.
It was a risky move to unexpectedly touch a warrior of Oneakka's calibre without warning. However, she was almost certain that Elite were rarely touched by anyone other than their own. No one else would dare to, or risk unintentionally provoking a violent instinctive reaction from a highly trained warrior. She had some faith that the high level of his training meant that Oneakka wouldn't just lash out, but it was still a real risk doing anything that might be misconstrued as an attack towards an Elite.
However, she understood on a primitive level that it would be the only thing that she could do to get his attention, to make him listen to her.
So, she reached out to touch his arm, to touch his skin that was almost as pale as the white washed walls around them.
His arm was far warmer than she had expected, his skin smoother, and the flesh even thicker with muscle than the toned limbs appeared. It brought a new physicality to him that was almost as shocking to her as she was intending it to be for him.
As she had hoped, he reacted immediately to the physical and unexpected demand for his attention, and fortunately that response did not involve an instinctive attack. Instead, his head swung round to her, his full attention landing on her with a sudden focus that was almost as physical as the feeling of his bicep flexing out from under her hand. He even stopped walking as his solid blue eyes fell on her with questioning weight.
She quickly pressed the moment she had gained.
"Malaca can be very useful to you. You want to know who your enemies really are inside the Alliance, who might be using the same contacts as Toshka and others? Then Malaca could lead you to them," she explained. "But, if you go in there, you'll have the same effect on that working source of information as you did on Dreamstation. You'll shut down one of the few underground contacts you know about."
"He's a traitor," Oneakka stated, but there wasn't a huge amount of heat in it.
"No, he's an overly obsessed computer tech who gets his only kicks in life from playing with code and computer programmes. He doesn't have any political associations, he doesn't overtly break any laws. He's just employed by people to find solutions to their computer and code problems. He's a professional problem-solver."
"Criminal problems," Oneakka replied in his simple terms.
"By simply providing code, he's no direct threat himself."
"He works for those who break Alliance law."
"Like you did when you tore Toshka's core out of his office wall and stole it?" She pushed.
Oneakka frowned heavily and shifted his weight towards her, pushing himself into her personal space. "You're arguing breaking laws with me?" The tone hadn't been as angry as she had expected, more incredulous, which she could kind of understand.
"My point is that Malaca isn't your enemy here; he's the key to getting what you want," she insisted, leaning further towards him herself. "You destroy his reputation here and you will lose any advantage of tracing those who use him now and in the future, such as those working and helping Toshka. If any of them get even a sniff of an Elite having visited Malaca, you lose all of that. Let me and Edfu go in, we'll talk with him."
Oneakka was already drawing in a breath to object, so she quickly kept talking.
"You're an Elite, and a rather conspicuous one at that. Anyone here sees you walk in there and you'll contaminate all that potential information and those you're after will disappear quicker than you can identify them," she insisted. "Malaca's best placed working for you, even if he doesn't know it."
"Plenty of people have already seen me at the Portal station and here," Oneakka pointed out the hole in her argument, but that he was arguing it told her that he was considering her argument.
"You could be visiting anyone here – there's no security feeds on the workshop levels, no one's followed us. Maybe the Elite could have concerns about security in the Links system. Let us go in and talk to Malaca, you can go frighten the security staff here and distract them from Malaca." He frowned at her at and what had almost been an instruction. "We get Malaca talking and he could spill information you haven't even dreamt of yet."
"All the better for me to make sure he does talk."
She was getting the feeling that he was arguing for the sake of it now, but she pressed on, glancing back down the corridor behind them to ensure they were still alone. However, she saw that Dex had already stationed himself a few metres back, watching around the last corner of the corridor. She looked back to Oneakka.
"You brought me here because of my experience and skill, what's the point if you just ignore me?" She challenged him. "You walk in there and the man is going to wet himself."
Oneakka rocked his weight back slightly, out of the closer insistent distance at which they had been talking. "What's wrong with that?" He asked, clearly pleased at the suggestion that just the sight of him could put the fear of death into someone like Malaca.
"Because it'll make a mess and we need him to be able to talk in complete sentences," she replied with a faint smile.
Oneakka glanced at the corner ahead, around which it would be a short walk to Malaca's workshop.
He was considering her point.
"He can't go anywhere, he's on a space station," she rationalised.
Oneakka looked back at her with a faint frown.
"Honoured Elite," Edfu put in, stepping up to them. Seeal had almost forgotten the man was there. "I have to agree with Seeal. Malaca's record implies that he is a somewhat insular man, who keeps to himself and avoids conflict. Such a profile will become excessively passive in your presence."
Seeal frowned at that description, probably Elite in origin.
"We can handle this," Edfu stated in a quite impressively confident yet respectful tone.
Oneakka looked from Edfu to her and then away down to where Dex was now approaching. "I'll make sure he talks," Dex promised, undermining the point, but Seeal could see that they had convinced Oneakka.
Oneakka looked at Edfu. "If he doesn't tell you what we need for deciphering Toshka's coding within five minutes, drag him out and we'll take him back with us."
"Yes, Honoured Elite," Edfu promised.
Oneakka nodded faintly, clearly not all that pleased despite his agreement.
"There's a security station at the end of this side corridor, looking out on a docking station where they bring in the communication satellites for repair work," she informed him. "You could poke around there to keep yourself busy," she suggested.
The blue eyes rested back on her with a narrowing glare that she had expected. Giving over control was clearly not something Oneakka did all that often – not that she couldn't relate to that – but she bet there were few who would tell him what to do while teasing him about it.
"Let's get in there," Edfu stated with excessive anticipation as he pushed faintly at Seeal's shoulder, encouraging her forward. He thought he was saving her from Oneakka's wrath – sweet, but unnecessary. "Malaca might have overheard us talking down here, we do not want to lose the potential of surprising him."
Seeal moved forward with Edfu, as he did have a point, but she made sure to move away from his hand that was still encouraging her forward. "That wasn't necessary," she told him.
"Trust me, it was," Edfu replied very quietly.
"Trust me, it wasn't," she countered, but carried on around the corner ahead. She wasn't afraid of Oneakka, despite how his angry glare might have appeared to Edfu, she hadn't seen anything but annoyance in it that she had won the discussion.
It wasn't important now anyway. As the doorway into Malaca's workshop came into view, she prepared herself for the interview ahead. Oneakka had allowed them to go on without him, but that only meant she had to pull what she had promised out of the situation now. But this kind of situation was her powerbase and she had dealt with Malaca enough times now to know how to handle him.
They reached the closed door, on which hung a small sign stating his opening hours and his hourly rate – which was rubbish, because she knew Malaca practically lived in the workshop all day and night, and he chose how much he charged off the top of his head half the time.
She ignored the call buzzer beside the door's lock, which normally people pressed for Malaca's permission to enter. She pulled out a small lock cracker that she had found among the Elite's equipment on the transport that had taken them off the Sythus. Apparently the Elite all carried the lock crackers. She wondered how long it would take the device to break through Malaca's door code. She pressed the small flat device to the door and triggered it.
"That doesn't seem all that polite," Edfu stated beside her, his tone all judgemental.
"Best he's unprepared," she replied as the cracker flashed a colour change and she heard the faintest pressure release from the door – impressive. Getting her fingers into the small space, she pushed the door aside, Edfu reaching out to help her, sliding the door fully aside to reveal the entrance to Malaca's workshop.
It looked as it always did – decorated, scattered, littered, and coated in random electronics. There wasn't a free flat space along the two side units that ran down the narrow entrance to the shop, above which open cupboards and shelves disgorged further electronics. Cables hung from circuit panels piled up on the shelves like branches and leaves hanging from trees, while circuit boards and strips of metal sat like books or pads in tall stacks with no apparent order to them.
Seeal led the way through the mess, running her eye over it all in case anything looked useful. It was essentially lost and found for anything electronic or faintly metallic. Massive rolls of cable and wiring led the way through the single entrance into the main workshop, the largest reels standing like sentries at the entrance to a temple to electronic divinity.
Seeal stepped through the temple entrance into Malaca's shop. The smell of fresh soldering mixed with the sharp scent of electricity. The air was hot in here, the five fans turning above the large room not enough to keep the air cool around the banks of computers that encircled the room.
Four long stout benches sat in a square formation in the centre of the workspace. Welding equipment and pieces of hammered sheet metal were stacked up on one whilst a long complex pattern of cabling was strung across the other workbenches. The single occupant of the room stood in the centre of the benches in the middle of the pattern of cabling, smoke billowing up from his work.
Having heard them enter, Malaca stopped and looked up and round. His face was almost entirely engulfed by the thick black protective goggles he wore, his cheek smeared dark, and his hair wet with perspiration. Thin fingers lifted to push his goggles up his high forehead, his fingernails burnt and blackened from his lifetime of work. A frown was revealed above his sharp dark eyes.
"Two point three seconds," he said, his voice lifting over the turning of the fans and the constant faint hum of the banks of computers powering away around the walls of the large room. "Interesting cracker."
Seeal sauntered into the room, playing the role of interested party, curious about what she saw. She held up the Elite cracker briefly, allowing him a tiny look before it disappeared into her jacket pocket. "I borrowed it," she told him with a smile. "Been some time, Malaca."
Malaca turned to face her more directly, but his eyes were on Edfu and Dex. Seeal ignored them and moved around one bench, looking over the cables, trying to work out what he was constructing.
"Interesting new heavies for you," Malaca frowned at Edfu and Dex.
"We are nobody's heavies," Edfu stated, his expression serious as he and Dex stood in the entrance, arms crossed as they took in the workshop. They certainly looked the part.
"Malaca," she called, drawing the man's attention back on her. "I'm here to talk about some past work of yours."
Malaca adjusted his goggles back over his eyes and leant forward over his cables again. "I only focus on my current work."
"That is a shame," Seeal replied quickly as she paced along the side of a bench. "This was the most impressive work I've seen. Perhaps it wasn't yours."
Malaca glanced at her. As disinterested in power and politics as he was, he still liked to hear how good he was at what he did.
Dex had begun moving around the far side of the workshop, moving along the furthest bench, Malaca sandwiched in the space between the benches and therefore between her and Dex. Dex brushed up against some of the laid out cabling, knocking it to the ground. Malaca looked round with annoyance, but he didn't say anything. The Satedan was working his best intimidation routine, though was silent for now.
"My associates were hoping to tap your skills again," she tempted Malaca, drawing his attention back to her. "But, if you're not interested in talking about your past work..."
Dex paced on, Malaca's eyes to keep an eye on the big man.
"What work?" Malaca asked.
"Some computer coding," she replied as she moved a little further along the bench as Dex began a circuit around the workshop, Malaca's attention shifting between him and her. Edfu was still stationed at the entrance.
A few pieces of retrofitted circuit board drew her attention. She picked them up off the bench with interest. "Is this what I think it is?" She asked.
That got her all of his attention. Malaca moved swiftly over his cabling and reached across the workbench for the circuit piece in her hand.
"All work is private," he stated protectively as he snatched it from her.
"Of course," Seeal replied calmly. "Just like that link intercept that you worked with the Tiles."
Malaca set the circuit down on a shelf under the workbench. "You want an impenetrable computer security system? I've got plenty. It will cost you though, for me to tailor it for your associates."
Dex had made a full circuit of the shop and had reached the corner behind Seeal in which there was a massive heap of random scrap metal, piled up to the point of collapse.
"The computer system we are particularly interested in," Edfu put in, "is something that you tailored very specifically."
"And you want a copy," Malaca guessed. "Everything is unique here, I don't duplicate. I have no interest in what I've already managed to do."
"This particular coding is unique," Seeal pushed. "Something you'll have worked long and hard on, after all it takes time to come up with an entirely new computer coding system."
Malaca became very still, his eyes all that moved as he looked back at her. "A new coding system?"
"With an entirely new language you put together for someone with considerable power of his own," Seeal replied. "We want into that code and we're willing to pay you double whatever you were paid for it."
Malaca blinked. He had been paid a lot.
Something metal shifted behind her, Dex had either nearly knocked something over or was looking through things.
Malaca let out a breath. "Double?"
"Yes," Seeal replied, but she watched him carefully.
He seemed different to the last time she had worked with him, which had to be almost a year ago now. He had more arrogance than before, more self-assuredness.
Dex shifted something else and there was a clatter of falling metal. Seeal worked for patience.
Malaca glanced in Dex's direction, again only with his eyes.
Seeal frowned at him.
"We can pay you more if that's what will convince you," Edfu put in from the entrance to the workshop.
Malaca's eyes shifted back to her and then he looked round to Edfu. His shoulders were tensing up.
There was another crash, louder than before, and this time Seeal had to look round at the distracting Satedan Military Councillor. About to deliver some choice words, she paused. He had found something very interesting in the pile of scrap metal. Buried under it, concealed under the scrap, was a small chunky piece of weaponry sat boxed in by two large pieces of what looked like ship hull plating.
"This is Satedan," Dex pointed to the weaponry, "Military only. And this," he jabbed at another piece, "Genii plating."
Seeal frowned at the military equipment in Malaca's shop, something that should never be there, but before she could follow where her mind was now heading, Malaca was abruptly moving.
He shot across the furthest workbench, having thrown himself over it with a quickness she hadn't known the man was capable of.
Dex shouted aggressively over a clutter of scrap metal across the floor, and Edfu shouted a warning to Malaca, but Seeal was too busy actually chasing after Malaca.
Over the workbench, Malaca had landed a little awkwardly, but was now running fast towards the far end of the shop. He would have a backdoor out of here, through which Malaca thought he would probably find nice helpful station security to save him from the dangerous 'criminals' after him. Little did he know whose side they were on.
She raced across the shop after him, jumping over various pieces of hardware, aware of Dex close behind her, but growling angrily at something. She just kept her eyes on Malaca's retreating back.
The little twerp was out of sight a split second later, having slid into a disgustingly narrow concealed space between two massive heavy shelving units. She slid in after him, but felt the shudder and heard the angry yell that told her Dex wouldn't be able to fit.
"Malaca, there's nowhere to run!" She shouted as she saw the man disappear through a concealed door down at the end of the tight space.
She got there just in time to jab her arm through the closing door and trigger its emergency re-open sequence. She squeezed through the opening door as quickly as she could, hearing Edfu calling to her, apparently able to fit down the narrow space unlike Dex.
The door led out into a strangely dark corridor. It was a dead end to the right, but the left stretched only a few yards until she could see the standard white corridors of the hub station. Malaca was headed towards that promising hopeful escape.
Except a tall dark shape stepped into the light, abruptly blocking Malaca's near exit.
Malaca slid to a stop, his shocked frightened gasp echoing to Seeal as she ran towards the confrontation, but it was already over.
Malaca staggered backwards, pin wheeling his limbs to stop from colliding with the massive tattooed Elite in his way.
"Malaca," Oneakka stated and the tech genius lost his footing, crashing down onto his backside on the smooth station floor. Seeal guessed the guy had never seen an Elite in the flesh before.
"Hon...onured..." Malaca began, confused and terrified.
Oneakka set one boot between Malaca's spread legs, reached down and picked Malaca up off the floor by the front of his shirt with a strength that appeared easy to him. He then turned and shoved Malaca's back against the corridor wall.
"The Elite wish to speak with you," Oneakka answered Malaca's barely started questions.
Seeal slid to a stop by them, her breathing faintly fast, as behind her Edfu arrived, as equally late as she was.
"He's got hidden military hardware in there," Seeal informed Oneakka. "Including some Satedan weaponry that Dex recognised."
Oneakka looked at her from Malaca. "Good thing I decided to busy myself nearby then," he told her, repeating her own mocking words back to her. It wasn't with an angry tone though, in fact she thought he seemed rather pleased at being able to say the words back at her.
"I was still right," she found herself replying. "Told you he would wet himself," she indicated the wide-eyed Malaca.
00000
TBC