Free Archives of the Frontier Universe: An Assassin's Assignment by Christopher Villanueva Page B

she found a series of elevators. Using her power, she sensed the location of the nearest, through the sealed doors. Finding it to her left (one actually on her floor), she hit the call button and stepped inside.
    “You still might want to avoid being seen,” advised Meyer. “They may not suspect you because of arms, but the discovery of a Pirate installation will likely put everyone on edge.”
    Not even waiting for the doors to shut, Rose put her hand to the service hatch on the ceiling and blew it open with a blast of telekinesis. She then jumped through the narrow hole, landing inside the stretching shaft.
    “It’s just something to keep in mind,” the man continued.
    “Hmm,” she hummed. “Perhaps you’re right. I’ll listen out for any sort of anxiety among those there. But the Grand Hall is several miles from here, and this is a massive city. Only news nearby should actually worry them. They know they’re at war. Plus, it’s not as if we attacked them; they attacked us.” As he did not respond, it seemed as if Meyer simply acquiesced to her assessment.
    Rose fired her harpoon up, retracted it, and ascended to the top. Seeing a small staircase built near the ceiling of the shaft, she flipped towards it and landed. She promptly exited the building, stepping out on the roof. Like before on the elevated hall, the wind picked up with a strong grip, pulling the loose extensions of her skirt and top. However, it seemed the Court did not have their air support monitoring this building. Wasting no time, she ran for the edge of the skyscraper. “Alright, I’m going silent for a while. I’ll try to find a faster way there once I escape the area. Just keep Command happy until we can figure this out.”
    “Very well,” replied the man. “I’ll speak with you soon.”
    Captain Meyer ceased communications, just as Rose reached the edge. Without a moment’s thought, she leapt over, diving back into the night.
     

Chapter 6
     
     
    As soon as she went silent, Captain Meyer terminated the communication session with Posteritor Byruhme and switched to monitoring the Court’s communications traffic. Fortunately for him and his installation, a group of competent technicians was able to secure a frequency. Not long after that, they were able to branch out universally and establish reliable uplinks to several channels (including the Court’s own). It seemed like, for now, the Court was more interested in bringing their own systems back online—at least the systems affected by Rose’s virus—instead of chasing every little data lead.
    Meyer continued tracking information pertaining to the seized installation. Apparently, a couple dozen Pirate officers and officials had been captured in the main building, along with a few hundred of the military in the surrounding areas. Astonishingly, and highly irritatingly to Meyer, almost another hundred were put down during the fight. The Court’s casualties were miniscule in comparison.
    “Idiots!” he cursed aloud. So loud, in fact, that a few of his subordinates across the room looked to him. Because of their distance from him (and the fact they had been monitoring different channels) they had not been able to hear the details of his conversations with Byruhme. His outburst, however, was detected at once, and Meyer shook his head, following up. “If Kyte had better control of his people, they would’ve simply surrendered! They could’ve dealt with a few months as prisoners, while the rest of us figured this out. Now, the Court’s going hold those men for some outrageous ransom, slapping brands of terrorism and such upon them!”
    No one spoke, but Meyer caught a few nodding out of the corner of his eye. Over by the doors, men and women were moving quickly back and forth, keeping their many operations afloat. News was being relayed to the other installations and even to other star systems. However, it was one contact in particular that the captain dreaded.
    “Sir,”