Aurora, Wayward Pt. 05

Sending the address to both locations and an app to the mobile device.

To allow you to monitor its movement through your city. I should warn you. We did not trace the connections but there are another 172 outbound communication connections in that office. We cannot tell you who or what they are monitoring; we do not know, yet. Unless authorized by the courts and you seek that request.

The Captain contacted the District Attorney while the sergeant connected the feeds into one display. He, in turn, contacted the judge who was linked to the display. The Captain relayed the information of scans and the communication backtrace.

The Judge asked, "How are you doing all of this?"

Sergeant Greg looked over, "The Home Guard has a Destroyer in the system. They are using their advanced sensor systems to scan the offices in question and a private residence. We have not checked either for explosives. We had to go through 3 dummy locations to find the source. We scanned that one for communications; due to the limits on the warrant. We have a list of the dummy location, the main office used by the suspect, Derrik Fell, who works from that office-based upon public records.

All going to Tracoron Weapons. Sending you his file from the Risen system in his known activity based upon their operative's work. Also, others where he is suspected to have been involved by other actors. Private businesses to governments.

He does have a public arrest warrant issued out of Trisan for assassination. They do not have his name but an image of him leaving the building was caught by some hidden surveillance cameras at the exit of the building. I should say the police do not have his name.

Trisan's Security Services might be another matter considering the contents of that file. We would need a warrant if you wish us to trace the other 172 connections."

The judge sighed, "We know your location has sniper and RPG systems that are automated. We need to know where the other locations are headed too. You said something about scanning the office and home. I will issue warrants for those as well."

He sent them over. The Sergeant looked at the display. Sending you the list of 12 more dummy sites, the location of the additional weapon systems, all of which are booby-trapped. Based on public records of addresses the likely targets for those weapon systems. I am sending you a list as we now have some cross colony connections as well."

The man looked at everything and froze, "The Governor, Secretary of Defense, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and eight members from the System Court. This list just keeps going on!"

He sighed. "How do we deal with this threat?"

The sergeant linked in his Lieutenant.

She looked over, "I am Lieutenant Torres, we are working with the local bomb disposal unit at Wira Kel's condo. Based on information from here and the warrants we received from the local judge. The Condo directly below is filled with enough explosives to take out over 2,000 km of the area within the city. Based upon your warrants and findings the Judge allowed us to backtrace the surveillance to the same location at the scene you are working.

You have two initial targets. We are bringing in one of our bridge officers who is trained in hand-to-hand combat and equipped with a sonic gun and a tranquilizer gun. To assist local law enforcement and because she looks like a Penan. The mobile one is the one we are most concerned about.

We could jam his communication on it but we do not know what failsafe he might have in place. The condo below was rented within hours of us taking Sergeant Vivian Lorau into protective custody, signed by the governor. Surveillance footage from within the building shows the barrels of explosives being loaded into the apartment through one of the freight elevators.

All men and women had facial recognition orders issued. They are all employees of Tracoron Weapons with prior military service working with ordinance and bomb disposal from all colony systems. The suspect Derrik Fell is the last one seen going into that apartment. He then went to Wira Kell's apartment and spent 6-hours inside.

He carried 2 boxes in and carried 1 box out with the other folded. I should mention we had to use our servers to restore these recordings as someone attempted to; very sloppily, remove them from the surveillance system.

A gentleman who works at the front desk and has an emergency pass key to all apartments. He was scheduled to be on vacation this week but his plans were pushed out a week. Corresponding to the time Wira Kel is expected to return. He is in custody already from the surveillance issues here."

He brought Rocan and Wira Kell into the conversation, "Aurora has already briefed us. Lieutenant, what is the local bomb squad recommending?"

He looked over, "Getting the trigger away from the triggerman. We could hack his pad as well. If it alerts him, he could attempt to do something. He needs to be apprehended, and we need to get that pad in the hands of one of our Sentinels to work through what they can disable.

Then we will need warrants to go after the President and CFO at a minimum. The home is leased by the company and he is working on the 4th floor and in a recorded interview, it is listed as a restricted area for some special projects and product development.

Without going into their records. When going after them I would recommend a joining marine and law enforcement action from the roof repelling in through the boardroom window. Like we did on Trisan."

The judge reached over and brought up one of the Judges from the System Court as it started going across colonies. Rocan looped her in. The Judge rolled his eyes. She was not a fan of Rocan, hybrids, sentinels, or Aurora. It messed with the law as far as she was concerned and she wanted their abilities limited.

The junior judge briefed her of the day's activity without naming the judges as targets specifically. He wanted a ruling on using the destroyer to access the companies' records.

The prosecuting attorney wanted to trace the financial sources connected to it as it had several high-value targets within the government. The system Court Judge Sura Cane, looked over, "I want a complete list of these supposed projected high-value targets."

The Judge sent it to her, "You are on that list, as are most of our executive branch."

The Judge rolled her eyes and signed the order herself, "I want the Home Guard taking care of this."

Rocan looked at her, "It will be my marines and Sentinel Captain Teller above in the destroyer handling this as we have no hybrids in your space at this time."

She sighed, "Understood, All AIs?"

He nodded, "All Sentinels. We are vetting standard crews. We will look to address that when we return and talk to the Governors at their meeting."

She ended her link. The younger Judge remained and looked over, "I hope they get this right."

Rocan nodded, "They will do their damnedest to get it right."

Aurora looked over, "Sending data to the Judge and district Attorneys office concerning all targets and those who had been inquiring about them. We also have the information on who in the Government requested Vivian Lorau's assassination. The president of the company did not act alone.

He put up two-thirds of the money. The rest came from Congress Woman Rica who is a major stockholder in the company. Found in public records for that last piece. You have 42 Congresspeople and the current Vice Admiral for your fleet. Also, the head of your ground forces Military. Presidents of several other businesses. This goes across colonies and has more targets including all sitting Governors.

Rocan brought up the Governor's channel and all five of them were present. "I am obligated to tell you this search into the bomb issue with Wira Kel's Condo has been expanded, all with court orders."

Aurora's eyes went red, "One second."

She focused on all five locations and there were fireworks in every governor's office. She calmed down. She looked, across, "I destroyed all of the listening devices in each of your offices. Each one of those led somewhere. I did not have a warrant to trace them. Instead, I acted to protect you."

Rocan looked over, "The last one signed by a Judge on the System Court for our Destroy to target Tracoron Weapons computers for an extensive search. We found them to be involved with illegal arms deals, drug trafficking, and assassinations or hitmen and women for hire as well as for the well-to-do and politically motivated.

The reason we are alerting all of you is that all of you are listed targets. They are still generating the list of actors by each system and who hired whom to do what. This is coming out of the Pena system with a System court order of that computer system. We are not going beyond that. Trust me; that has enough information to bury many political careers."

Aurora looked over, "I am sending you each a list of all the targets and all of the actors. Some targets are actors for others and there are at least 3 cases where a hitman has contracts to kill 2 people who want each other dead.

In short, you have a mess. All of you. We have given you the list of who cannot be trusted with this information and who is behind it, even across systems. All pots and kettles are black in this. You would need to marshal your forces and coordinate a plan with all of them."

Aurora looked over, "The target with the remote was apprehended. The undercover cop and our agent were dressed like college kids. While he was groping the breast of the police officer. He got hit with a tranquilizer gun at close range. He turned and swung.

He hit our agent in the face. She has made the necessary repairs to her skin already. He, on the other hand, probably shattered every bone in his hand for his efforts. They have disarmed the killing field and shut down the weapons in play. this is in Pena only.

Local police have been given warrants to move in and deal with the issues with their bomb squads. The land mines could not be destroyed remotely and there were 28 in Wira Kel's condo alone. At least 4 in every other location. That will damage the floors to get them out.

As they damaged them to put them in from the condo below, cutting through the ceiling. He had to set all of the mirrors up on the ceiling for 182 separate laser triggers; it required 3 of them in an area to go off. Sorry, it could not be helped."

They could all hear Wira Kel's groaning scream of frustration from across the room. "We also managed to remotely shut down his terminals in his office. They put an alert virus that will signal us if another tries to bring them up. Same for the one in his residence. Our Sentinels have all of the rights for any user restricted except for an account they generated on the machine."

Rocan sighed, "You all have your investigative arms to work with and you know the actors lined up against you. My marines are pulling back to the Destroyer until we hear if you need them anymore."

He disconnected everyone.

---

Over the next 3 days, 986 arrests were made, most were for murder for hire or conspiracy to commit murder. Governor Traska had to replace half her congress, all of her top military advisors, 4 cabinet members including her Secretary of defense, the head of her Security Services, and the father of her 3 children.

The last one was over visitation rights with the children. He wanted custody of all of them but he had fallen into using drugs and the courts sided with her. That was typical in Penan society. Fathers' rights were secondary to mothers as the fathers had to move on the next flower to pollinate.

She had 612 of the 986 arrest warrants. The Ridan Governor instituted martial law until a special election for congressperson replacements could be held in 6 months. Congress had been effectively shut down as they did not have enough voting members to reach a quorum.

Her polling numbers went through the roof for cutting corruption to the core. While she could not run again it did strengthen her party's chances in 6 months of controlling congress when it returned.

Rocan was called upon to let his marines help local swat teams on Pena in taking in those they had warrants within Tracoron Weapons which effectively sent the company straight into bankruptcy. Congresswoman Rica was arrested at the same time and was not allowed her phone call until the Finacial Exchange called a halt to all trading on the company's shares."

She lost half of her net worth for the effort. She still had several hundred million but now she had to deal with legal fees from her lawyers. Several of whom told her to plead out and she fired them. The order to permit the search warrant given the judge was one of many targets was called into question.

The one judge on the court not on the list looked at them, "I would have signed it without the list of targets, as would most of the others. She has been the hardest of any of us on using the Home Guard to conduct these searches but they stopped where they needed to stop.

They sent the list of information and the mountains of evidence to the appropriate governors and backed out of the interactions. They stayed focused on what was permitted. Except for a requested joint Home Guard Sentinel and swat team interaction, they have not been on the planet in days.

There Sentinel Marines trained in computer forensics, orbital sensors to identify land mine locations, and sending maps with make and model number of various land mines to each bomb disposal unit.

They saved them hundreds of hours. They saved the lives of tens of thousands of Penans. I find no fault on the Home Guard as the Hybrids were not even in the system. They followed Rocan Spartan's orders in this matter, but they had to do the work. The hybrids are still en route to Drisan.

They felt their marines could do it on their own if called upon by our Governor to assist. They did the jobs! Dangerous jobs. The request to nullify this search warrant is denied!"

That put the death nail in many careers; military, political, and corporate.

---

Wira walked onto the bridge, "I had to have my second chairs take over on those two cases until I return. The judges did not want to hear about any Home Guard Business that pulled me away from my clients or the bombing issues."

He rolled his eyes, "I am sorry about that."

She shook her head, "No it is me that needs to make a few hard choices. To start with I will use the office here and coordinate with my people for a while. My condo is essentially condemned at the moment. As is the one below it. The tenants of the building had signed a petition to have me removed from the building.

Up until my office dropped a lawsuit on them for attempting to go after the victim of a crime. They backed down. I will still likely sell but only after my insurance company works to pay for all of the damages.

Which they will want building management to pay for half or more of that because it affects the other Condo they leased out to a fake person. I have a team of lawyers working with them both to come to an agreement. It is being taken to mediation."

He looked at her, "For the moment that is fine. We get back, you would likely be living on the Destroyer in orbit. I cannot keep this ship in any one planets orbit for too long and we are going to have to work the blockade of 3 worlds now. I will leave a destroyer there and take the Battleship to Trisan.

I foresaw, from talks with Aurora, this eventuality. I had one of the destroyers outfitted with an office like the one here. Trisan has the biggest problems right now. This is after the governor's meeting; I have to attend it in 11 days."

She nodded, "What do I do until then?"

He pointed at tactical, "Your job. Get some training while you are here."

She laughed at him, "Alright, Kinna can contact me and let me know if I have any incoming issues."

Aurora walked in, "Trisan's list of where they think they will need Sentinels and the total."

He shook his head, "That cannot be right. 75% of their population is out of work because of this move and Sentinels are going to do all of that?"

She shrugged. He sorted it my numbers. "What is SSB?"

She sighed, "Sexual Surrogate Builders. They make all of the adult toys and lifelike dolls used by people to get off."

He looked over, "12,000 employees! They will have to just relocate their business."

She sighed, "Pena won't allow it on the planet. They heavily restrict the imports of the products. If someone wants something, they went to Trisan to get it., or ordered it for delivery directly to people's homes. No retail outlets on Pena."

He sighed, "Then we will have to clean them up and relocate them to Drisen instead. All 12,000 plus their families."

She sighed, "The owner stated that he could not tolerate the cold climate."

Rocan looked over, "Find out how many of these are actually real for medical needs, or to aid the colonies with tools and such? How many Centipedes we up to?"

She looked over, "We have just finished the fourth one. It will make 2 more immediately."

He nodded, "Colossus is back on the table. It has factories and mining capabilities. The 2 centipedes first."

She sighed, "I will run the numbers. Lt. Commander Fordor has his new frame."

He nodded, "The marines on the destroyer. I want a unit citation for all of them. I want Fordor and his team to receive one for the extraction. One marine was wounded in the exchange. We called that a taking one for the colony metal. In this case, I would likely say a Home Guard heroism metal. Like we did for those who fought along with those that died on the battleships. Before the jump."

She nodded, "Records updated. There is a general euphoria going through the Sentinel population at letting an all Sentinel unit take on that challenge."

Rocan smiled, "There will not be any all Sentinel units soon. You got the first few hundred vetted?"

She nodded, "I have."

He looked over, "Get the first 120 aboard the destroyer and cleared through medical 12 at a time. Scanning for explosives and that fucking metal. I want to see their files in my office in my quarters."

She nodded. "They are there."

He looked over, "Lt. Commander Kel. The bridge is yours. You need the practice."

She rolled her eyes, "Thanks a lot."

He had Aurora follow him down, "How are the other ladies doing?"

Aurora sighed, "Freia is a concern. She only spends time with you."

He sighed, "Also you."

She looked over, "You know what I mean, Kel brought her girl on this trip, Loraru is still under quarantine and a bit lonely. She is also worried about tomorrow when she is not under quarantine. How all the ladies might react to her. Except for when she was a little girl, no man or woman has touched her. She has been scared about letting anyone get close to her."

He nodded. "I understand what you are saying. What are you proposing?"

She looked over, "That I land the rest. Leave Freia and her to you tomorrow. Just the 3 of you. Don't go flooding her and I will get samples later."

He walked into the corridor and knocked on her door. She came to it in a t-shirt and underwear. She went 10 shades of darker red. "Sorry, normally only the ladies come down to see me."

He nodded, "Follow me."

He went to his room with her and thought to Freia, * Come see me Freia. My room. *

He walked in and she followed. He sat in his chair, "You can sit on the bed."

She nodded and sat down. She looked over, "Something wrong?"

He shook his head, "Not with me. I am more concerned about you."

Freia walked in, "Also you Freia. Two different reasons why I am concerned. First, I am not out trying to select a girlfriend for either of you. I know you are on quarantine, what is your percentage at now?"