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ADMIRAL MAHONEY HAD only just entered Naval Command when Cortez quickly approached him. She was pale and tired and she felt awful, but there was nothing to be done about it so she simply carried on. Even if she’d wanted to go back to her quarters and rest, she couldn’t. Not now.
"Admiral, I need to see you," she said.
"Can it wait, Lieutenant? I haven’t even had my coffee yet."
"No sir, it can’t."
He sighed.
"Look, Lieutenant, I know you’re used to having a certain amount of leeway with Commander Radko, but you’re-."
"We’ve received a transmission from the Earth’s surface, Admiral," she said quickly.
He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her, mouth open slightly.
"What?"
"It came in about three minutes ago. I’m having it run through every piece of software we have to see if we can authenticate it, but...," she paused for a second, feeling lightheaded.
"Are you all right, Cortez?"
"I just need to eat something, I’ll be fine."
"Okay," he said, snapping his fingers at a nearby enlisted crewman. "Get the Lieutenant a protein bar ASAP."
Turning back to Cortez, he stroked his mustache.
"How do we know this isn’t a ril-galas trick? We haven’t heard a peep from Earth in nearly a year."
"We’re trying to authenticate now, but Admiral, the person making the broadcast identified herself by name," said Cortez. "And I know her. I’ve met her."
She handed him a tablet and her tapped a command to play the file. It was audio only of course, so to avoid distraction Mahoney closed his eyes as he listened.
"This message is going out to any humans who can hear it. Or icarans, for that matter," said a woman’s voice. She spoke English with a slight accent, but with the low quality of the broadcast, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of accent. "There is a resistance movement on Earth, fighting the ril-galas occupying force. We are small in number, but have fortified defenses. We are surviving, but supplies – food and ammunition – will eventually run out. We need assistance. Earth has fallen, but its population... some of its population can still be saved. We have garrisoned Edinburgh Castle in Scotland and for the time being we are safe behind its walls, but we need help."
There was a pause in the broadcast and some other voices could be faintly heard in the background.
"The ril-galas have set up processing plants," the woman said. "They’re rendering plants, turning humans into meat. We save as many as we can, but we don't have the people or equipment to fight a war."
Another pause.
"And we have the heir to the British throne. I repeat, Prince... King Arthur is with us. He is alive and he is with us."
The woman paused again and when she continued her voice was quieter, almost intimate.
"Once upon a time, I was called Quon Li Chen. I was part of the Soviet program called Project Nightwatch."
Cortez watched as Mahoney twitched at the mention of Nightwatch.
"Radko... you let me choose my path and this is it. Now my name is Hunter and I am fighting for the survival of the human race."
The transmission ceased and slowly opening his eyes, Mahoney stared at the tablet in silence for a moment before speaking.
"Nightwatch," he said. "Do you know what Nightwatch was, Lieutenant?"
"Yes. She told me about it, Sir."
As far as she was aware, no one had ever asked Radko what had happened to the ‘package’ the Vimy Ridge had been tasked with delivering to Duster’s Range prior to the attack on Echo Station. Certainly no one had asked Cortez and there had been no follow-ups in the intelligence file – she’d checked several times, just to see if Quon had been recaptured.
"She said Radko let her choose her path?"
"Yes," said Cortez. "He offered her freedom in exchange for her help. Her abilities – her ESP – allowed her to sense the ril-galas at a time when we hadn't figured out how to calibrate our LiDAR to do the job."
The admiral nodded.
"Even Radko’s biggest detractors would have to admit that the man knows how to improvise," said Mahoney, seemingly more to himself than Cortez. "I assume you’ve already forwarded a copy of this to the Vimy Ridge?"
"I did, Admiral."
There was no sense in denying it.
"Response?"
"Not yet. I just sent it off a moment before you came in."
"All right. I want you to..."
He trailed off, his frown deepening as Bianca Upshaw strode into the command centre with a quartet of armed and armoured ATC Castle security guards at her side.
"Ms. Upshaw, the command centre is off-limits to civilians."
"Except as it pertains to ATC Castle’s duties as provider of security to this facility," she said, a thin, humourless smile on her lips. "And, sadly, that’s the capacity in which I’m here now."
With a sigh, Mahoney set aside his tablet.
"Please explain yourself, Upshaw, before I have you removed."
"We were unable to trace who sent the lockdown command to Duster’s Range. The person responsible is very good at encryption and using multiple relays to cover their tracks. However, it seems that with one of their subsequent transmissions – the one warning the pirate vessel that we’d dispatched the Adirondack – the culprit slipped up and forgot to add all the usual layers of encryption."
She snapped her fingers and pointed at Cortez. Immediately, two of the armed guards were at her side, grabbing her roughly by the arms.
"Anna Cortez, you are under arrest," said Upshaw, her smile becoming more genuine.
"On what charge?" said Cortez, feeling remarkably calm. She supposed that the knowledge she was already dying had removed a great deal of her fear.
"Treason."
"Treason?" said Mahoney, stepping between Upshaw and Cortez. "Even if she did assist the pirates, acting against a corporate entity is in no way treason."
"The charge is treason," said Upshaw. "If you disagree, you may feel free to speak at her court martial. It starts tomorrow."