Chapter 4: Reading the Mail

Senior Conference Room B

Triad Naval Base, Mars Orbit

Monday, June 22, 2150

Willis Hacker looked around the conference table at the four other people he had been ordered to meet. Hacker was a senior systems engineer with MicroZon-AmaSoft, the Martian division of WestHem’s MicroZon-AmaSoft. When Mars revolted four years ago, he had been just another junior Greenie coder considered too stupid to be able to work on the company’s programming and was relegated to doing minor upgrades on the WestHem Navy’s computer systems. After the Revolution, it turned out that all those silly and simple Greenie coders knew far more about the software they were working with than their managers back on Earth.

Hacker was also a Lieutenant in the Martian Planetary Guard, Reserve. He had served in the MPG during Martian Hammer, in the front lines at New Pittsburgh. After the war, Sergeant Hacker was promoted to Lieutenant Hacker and reassigned back to his regular job as a systems engineer with MicroZon-AmaSoft.

Also in the room was Admiral Matthew Belting, the Fleet Admiral of the Martian Navy. If it was a Martian spaceship, he was the person ultimately responsible, and if WestHem or EastHem decided to visit Mars, he was the person responsible for stopping them. He had been one of the exceedingly rare Martians who had been an officer in the WestHem Navy prior to the Revolution and had commanded an Owl during the Jupiter War. After her Captain was killed in action, Belting had taken command and killed six EastHem ships before being pounded into scrap; he ended up taking the blame for the loss of the Owl.

The third person in the room was Captain Brett Ingram, Commodore, Stealth, He commanded all the stealth ships in the Martian Navy, eight Improved-Owls Mod Two, the most powerful ships in the Navy and arguably the deadliest ships in the Solar System. He had commanded Ballbuster, a standard Owl, during Martian Hammer with a crew that was half-manned and half-trained, and killed two WestHem Panama-class transports and a Seattle-class anti-stealth ship. Promoted to command of the stealth squadron after the war, he had led the conversions to the Improved-Owl class, ships that had decimated the convoys WestHem sent to Mars during Martian Justice.

The fourth person was a woman, Commander Whitey Sucksall, Captain of the MSS Assfucker, an Improved-Owl Mod Two. She had extensive combat duty during the convoy battles as well as Earth-orbit reconnaissance missions.

Admiral Belting started the meeting. “Welcome back to Triad Naval Base, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you. I assume we are doing another Operation Nutsack and I’m the asshole selected.”

Whitey laughed. “Operation Nutsack? That’s what you named the first mission? That’s fucking good!”

Brett snorted out a laugh. “Sugi picked out the name. He figured if it went wrong, everybody’s nuts would be in a sack.”

“Ballbuster is still in orbit. I am going to have to get a debrief on that one from him,” she replied.

“Just how bad is Nutsack Two going to be, Brett? Am I going to be hanging my ass out ten klicks from the ship in orbit again? Not a fun time!” said Hacker.

Whitey raised an eyebrow at that, though Ingram and Belting laughed. “That is our last choice, just as it was before. No, that really isn’t in the works,” said Ingram.

Belting said, “Willis, your team did an amazing job during that mission. You not only provided us a back door into the WestHem satellite system, that back door enabled us to get into the WestHem ground-based security systems and their communications systems. It’s how we damaged them so badly during Martian Justice.” He turned to Commander Sucksall. “It’s how we got the shit needed to send you and Blackie after those tankers.”

Ingram said, “Now it’s time for the encore. We want to do to EastHem what we did to WestHem. While we do not foresee military action against them at this time, we need to be prepared. We’ve had a team of systems engineers working up how WestHem and EastHem have been probing each other for generations. As far as we can tell, WestHem has no idea we are looking over their shoulders. In addition, we have identified several potential access points where we can insert a virus which will give us access to EastHem, just like you did with WestHem.”

“And if I did it once before, I can do it again?” Hacker asked wryly.

“Bingo!”

Ingram finished, saying, “Ballbuster will be docking sometime this evening. Sugi will be reporting in and will be assigned to a working group for Nutsack Two. At that time both you and Sugi can fill Whitey in on the project and what was involved. We’ll also give you access to the programming our engineers have developed. You can pick your team at your discretion. Assfucker is scheduled to launch for Earth orbit by the end of July. That’s our window for this. Otherwise, we have to wait another five months.”

Hacker looked over at Whitey. She gave him a confident nod. He turned back and said, “We’ll make it happen.”

Financial Regulation Office

New Pittsburgh, Mars

Tuesday, June 23, 2150

“Paul, you want to come in here for a moment?”

Paul Winston looked at his computer for a moment, identifying the voice as that of his supervisor, Darryl Roanbacker. Roanbacker managed a department that looked for financial irregularities in the Martian banking system.

Winston was a former EastHem banker whose wife Mary, a nurse, had complained once too often about the inequities in the EastHem health system. That had earned the Winston family a one-way trip to Mars as ‘voluntary colonists’, a euphemism for how EastHem got rid of troublemakers. EastHem had asked Mars about the possibility of immigration and the Martian government had thought about it, deciding that polite relations with their trading partner was a good idea. Though the Martian banking system was vastly different than Earthling banking systems, Paul proved that once a banker, always a banker. It took him some time getting used to the new system, but he quickly discovered an irregularity that showed that WestHem had thoroughly infiltrated the Martian banking system and ultimately discovered a WestHem spy. That had earned him a promotion.

Paul left his desk and went down the corridor to Roanbacker’s office. He knocked on the door and went in. “You wanted me, Darryl?” Then he stopped in surprise. There was a third person in the room. “Secretary Newfelt!”

Romy Newfelt, Secretary of Finance, the chief financial regulator for Mars, laughed. “I suppose that’s better than being called Madame Secretary. That would be the norm back in EastHem, right?”

Paul made a wry smile. “That and a lot of bowing and genuflecting. Otherwise, it’s a ghetto in Africa.”

“Well, here we simply banish you to Libby or Procter.”

Paul smiled. “Yes, Madame Secretary.” He knelt and bowed as the others laughed.

“Get up before I hurt myself laughing,” said Darryl. When Paul climbed to his feet, Darryl pointed him to a chair. “We want to talk to you about a new job.”

“Oh?”

Darryl nodded and Romy said, “You have done very well in your job investigating financial irregularities. You and Darryl have built a nice little department for that sort of thing. It’s time to move on.”

“Move on?” asked Paul.

“How familiar are you with WestHem’s financial system?” asked Darryl. “Not just what you’ve done here. What did you learn about the WestHem banking system when you were in EastHem?”