Chapter 9
"You need to run that by me again. Marie found what now?" Kate wasn't sure she'd heard her friend correctly. Kara's phone call had caught her off guard, especially once the blonde had laid out what the encrypted messages had said. It had turned out that the key to the cipher were the names of the places given by the coordinates left on the rather unenlightening notes from Marie. It was quite a sophisticated setup and it would have been hard for anyone without a supercomputer to put it together as quickly as they did.
"We believe that she stumbled upon corporate espionage being perpetrated by someone she called 'the rabbit'. At first, it looks like she tried to foil this 'rabbit' by using code to restrict access to servers or by adding layers of passwords. It didn't take long before she realized that she couldn't do it alone. She reached out to Agent Smith, former DEO. Though she did not mention how she knew him," Kara explained.
"She was hoping to build up security without directly involving her coworkers," Kate figured.
"It would seem. She mentions quite a few times that she's not sure if there are others besides 'the rabbit'. At some point though, it became more than just espionage. Marie was starting to think there was also sabotage. The project she was working on kept hitting hiccups," Kara said.
"Have you spoken to Lena?" The Gothamite wanted to know.
"No. I need more ammunition before I do that," the blonde told her.
"Kara, if this 'rabbit' works for Lena or is stealing secrets from Lena as well, we could be looking at someone who has no intention of using what they find for good. We could also be looking at the person who may have harmed Marie and Agent Smith," Kate reminded her.
"I know. Kelly and Nyssa are digging for more information so we can try and identify this 'rabbit'. Perhaps we can smoke them out," the Kryptonian hoped. She did not want to barge into Lena's office accusing her of something (or even hinting at something) that they had no proof of. Their friendship was back on course and this could send it off in the wrong direction again.
"Something is bothering me though. Why would someone committing corporate espionage try to harm Marie? Why not just get out while the getting is good?" Her friend wondered.
"They must have been looking for something they hadn't found yet. Marie was getting in their way," that was the only thing that Kara could think of.
"All right. I'll issue an edict from Wayne Enterprises headquarters. Tell everyone to run security checks in their department and report back to me as quickly as possible. Maybe we can narrow the search," Kate knew that it was the only way to help from her end.
"Go for it. We'll keep digging and I'll keep you posted," Kara promised. With that the call ended and she went back to Kelly and Nyssa, who were still sifting through the letters on the computer screen.
"So, what's the plan?" Nyssa asked.
"Kate is going to call for security checks to be performed and results sent to her. Meantime, we need to figure out who this 'rabbit' is and I have to talk to Lena," Kara said.
"What is talking to Lena going to do?" Kelly wanted to know.
"We need to see if she's had any security breaches or if someone working for her is the breacher or saboteur. Obsidian North/Wayne Enterprises are in direct competition with L Corp for government contracts," the blonde explained.
"Who would try and kill someone for corporate espionage?" Kelly wasn't so sure about that either. Sure, companies spied on each other all the time, but murder…
"Millions of dollars are at stake or perhaps the fate of the world…" Nyssa looked at the note on the screen.
"What are you talking about?" Kara looked at what her friend had found.
"Marie makes reference to a joint NATO and US Government project which Obsidian North is competing for. It sounds like a planet protector – a shield to prevent unauthorized entrance into Earth's atmosphere. Not just space junk, broken satellites, or asteroids but also alien transports from other planets. She notes that there is a highly classified portion which only a certain number of workers were clued in on. Given her past, she would never pass a high scrutiny background check so she was out of the loop. Still, she suspected that 'the rabbit' was after the schematics. It's the note she makes here that makes me nervous," Nyssa pointed to the words on the screen, which read,
The system is supposed to be able to shoot missiles or some form of projectiles at items which are on a collision course with Earth's atmosphere. Pathways should be able to be opened for space travelers. This all sounds fine, but how much would it take to turn the system on Earth itself? What if an enemy of the state was able to launch missiles or projectiles at cities? Worse still, what if alien invaders could break the code and use our own technology against us?
"Shouldn't a system like this be highly encrypted and only certain people have codes to use the system?" Kara asked.
"Yes, but I can understand Marie's concern. Encryption is only as good as the security around it. The ciphers would need to be under lock and key somewhere. The coding would need to be able to stand up to brute force attacks. She's worried that a species who is much smarter than us could easily break the code," Kelly figured.
"She fears another invasion, like when Mon-El's parents came to Earth," the blonde said.
"Makes sense given what also happened with the Fifth-Dimensional Imps and the Phantom Zone, never mind the fact that we had a Crisis, which most of the planet doesn't remember. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Wonder Woman filled Marie in," Nyssa agreed.
"Keep searching through those notes. Something made Marie make that jump. I have to go and talk to Lena," Kara told them. That's when her phone rang.
"It's Brainy," she said before answering it. The twelfth-level intellect must have finally finished with the former DEO footage.
"I'm bringing back the video files to the Tower. There is something you need to see," Brainy said without a 'hi' or 'hello'.
"I'll be here," Kara promised.
To Be Continued…