Chapter 8

Kat spent the time until planet fall in her cabin, except for meals and a trip to the gym. Minerva had given her some case files to read and, despite Minerva's assurance that her gear was unmolested, she examined each piece in detail. Since she had designed her own gear, she was confident that she could spot any major changes or additions. She even downloaded the code for the multi-purpose communicator to see if they had slipped in a worm.

She didn't know whether to be relieved that she didn't find anything or paranoid that she missed something. These were some scarily powerful folks and she wasn't sure she was even in the same league. If they had, for example, used Nanites to alter one of the chips, there was no way she could know unless she could get her hands on some serious testing equipment. Even then, being self-taught, it was possible she could miss something.

She sighed and sat on the edge of her bunk. She had to decide whether or not to trust these folks. It wasn't as if she had a lot of options at this juncture. Packing up her gear again and putting the issue aside, she picked up the files and began to read.

Some of the files were from past cases and they included complete post-case analysis. She was able to learn what was done, what the agent thought about his or her own actions and what the folks up the chain of command thought as well. Interestingly enough, even in the classified (and partially redacted) case files, no agent names were mentioned. A quick scan through the rest of the files confirmed that only agent code names were used.

Another interesting item that caught her eye was that the after-action critique by management was always in the form of offering alternative interpretations of data, never in the form of critique. The bosses were not micro-managing the agents and were not second-guessing actions taken in the field. They were simply offering food for thought, trying to expand the agent's viewpoint.

It sounded too good to be true. There had to be more to this than met the eye. Even as a free-lance contractor, the client always thought that they could plan and execute the job better than the shooter. The shooter knew better, of course. If the client was that smart, why did they have to hire a contractor in the first place! Agency management seemed like they pointed an agent and let them loose to work out the details. It couldn't be that simple, people in power just weren't wired that way!

On the heels of the ship comp's notification of impending planet fall, the door chime announced a visitor. Shifting from the bed to the chair so that she was not in direct line of fire for the door, Kat told the computer to open up. Standing in the door was Helios, and he had a duffel bag in hand.

"Minerva asked me to drop this off for you. It's a crew uniform, shoes etc. In the bag is an Ident disc that states you are a Petty Officer 3rd, Electronics, and a credit wafer already registered to the ID. She would like you to wait on board until the crew disembarks, then leave with them. After you go through customs, catch an autocab out front, doesn't matter which one. Inserting your credit wafer will activate a subroutine taking the autocab offline for maintenance and it will deliver you to our sector headquarters. Anyway, good luck and I am sure I'll be seeing you around!"

"Thanks, Hel..." before she had gotten the words out, Helios had already dropped the bag inside the door, spun on his heel and was gone. Kat opened the bag and extracted the wallet.

Themis Agnoset. Kat shook her head and wondered what the fascination with Old Earth mythology was. These names all came from the Old Earth country of Greece, the birthplace of a whole bunch of stuff she didn't remember anymore.

She quickly changed into the crew shipsuit and tucked the Ident disc and credit wafer away in a zippered pocket. Packing the rest of her gear was the work of moments and she was almost ready to disembark. The only question was what she was to do with the files Minerva had given her to read. Having them in her bag, when going through customs, seemed like a bad idea. Leaving them in the cabin, though this was supposedly a secure ship, was likewise a bad practice.

It struck her that this was probably a test. A childish one, but she was sure it was a test nonetheless. Stacking the files neatly, she left her pack in the cabin and headed down to Minerva's control center.

The Meathead twins were gone and it gave Kat a moment's pause. Thumbing the activator for the door, she was surprised that it was unlocked and even more so when the door opened and inside was ... a stateroom. One even smaller than her own.

Kat stepped back into the passageway, looked left and right to confirm that she was in the right place, and that she wasn't being watched, then entered the cabin again. Walking slowly around the circumference of the room, she tapped experimentally on the walls, checked the storage closet and even the fresher bay. The room was virtually indistinguishable from her own cabin, except a bit smaller. Taking one more circuit around the cabin and looking for some way to activate whatever circuit was used to swap in this bit of camouflage, she quickly gave up the search as useless. They wouldn't go to all of this trouble only to go cheap on something so important.

Leaving the cabin again, she immediately headed for engineering. If they wanted to play games with her without explaining the rules first, she would just play by her own rules. As she had guessed, the Agency had been very thorough when creating her alias. Her Ident disc got her access to the secured crew-only section of the ship and to the engineering spaces. Just forward of the engine room should be ... Kat nodded.

Ships did not jettison refuse, it created navigation hazards for other ships, but carrying it from port to port had its own set of unique challenges. The smarter solution was to use bio-recyclable materials where possible, and a solid materials reclamation unit for non-biological materials. The unit used excess heat and power from the main engines to break the materials down into its constituent elements. These elements, in their raw form could be used for creating other items while in space, or sold when reaching port.