Free Dusk (Dusk 1) by J.S. Wayne

secure with me reading off this code with him present, correct?”
    “I do, Major. I accept full responsibility.”
    “Very good, Ambassador. Sorry about that.” He chuckled, lapsing back into his more relaxed but still polite persona. “Protocol, you see. Keeps my ass off the hot seat as much as possible.”
    She smiled. “Understood, Major. So what’s the code?”
    “Alpha Seven Delta Four Eta Eight Sigma Three Chi Nine Zero.”
    She read back the code dutifully for verification. He nodded.
    “That’s the one. It’s good for fifteen minutes, after which you will be locked out of the files for thirty-six hours. If you want to read it back again, I’ll understand.”
    She did so and he once again agreed she had it right. “If you need anything further, Ambassador, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
    “I won’t,” Olivia assured him. They chatted politely for a moment, and then she disconnected. Merrick watched her carefully as she entered the passcode. The screen flickered for a moment, and then lit up with the legend, “Welcome, Ambassador Trelawney.”
    Olivia sighed sadly. “I guess this means I really am the Ambassador now.”
    Merrick couldn’t think of anything to say to that.
    He wasn’t even sure there was anything to say to that.
    * * *
    Elsewhere in Galacia, the assassin watched as the passcode flickered into ghostly life. The lag on the new ambassador’s communications was a handicap, but not an obstacle.
    Touching a control stud launched the worm that would allow unrestricted access to Olivia’s computer and any files she viewed. While there would be a slight delay, one could learn much just by watching and listening. There was no need for more intrusive measures.
    Yet.
    The holoscreen abruptly flickered to life again. The pale text against the blue backdrop read, “Welcome, Ambassador Trelawney.”
    The assassin clenched a fist in triumph. Once everything that needed to be known was known, Olivia would become dispensable. Her bodyguard might prove problematic, but even the most alert and ferocious watchdog had to sleep sometime.
    For now knowledge, not action, was the key to power.
    Settling into the comfortable hruczek -leather chair, the unseen voyeur propped chin on hands and studied the holoscreen intently, eyes flicking over the lines of text as they appeared. Speed-reading was a useful hobby, but occasionally annoying: the visible screen was consumed quickly, necessitating a wait while the next screen was brought up. The worm made it possible to assume full control of the system and analyze the data at will, but that was much too dangerous for this early phase of the proceedings.
    If there was anything the assassin understood it was the value of patience.
    The next screen appeared with agonizing slowness.
    “Interesting,” the assassin muttered, eyes darting over a key point in the text. “Very interesting indeed.”
    It seemed that dispatching Trelawney had not been as necessary as initially thought. Unfortunate. He was a talented lover. I suppose one really can teach an old dog new tricks …
    But there would be other lovers in due course. For now, the task was to watch, wait, and learn.
    A task the assassin was uniquely well-suited to.

Chapter Six
     
    “ Captain Silva, you have a superluminal communication. Captain Silva, you have a superluminal communication .”
    Pete snarled and pulled the covers over his ears, turning pointedly away from the strident voice of the holoscreen. He had only managed about half an hour’s sleep, after being all up until nearly dawn by his internal clock. Between pacing about, digesting his orders, and trying to learn everything there was to know about Dusk, he was in no shape to take a faster-than-light call. The only reason someone would go to the trouble and expense of tightbeaming the call instead of sending an electronic message was if something truly dire had occurred.
    That thought brought him fully awake and more than slightly pissed-off.