Read Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty for Free Online

been built full scale and would rival the best facilities to be had in the core. Impressive foresight on somebody’s part as it must have cost an immense amount. Eric couldn’t have made that decision he realised. He just didn’t have the vision, but someone did. Someone had faith in Thurston’s future enough to force the issue. The founders must have bled credits for decades after colonisation. Even now, the port was only using about five percent of its capacity, but if President Thurston could make his reforms stick, if he could defeat his political opponents, if he could rid himself of the Freedom Movement, and if he could persuade and cajole enough members of the Alliance council to ratify Thurston’s application to join the Alliance, then that huge investment would suddenly be realised. The spaceport and the station in orbit above it would become the most important assets the planet owned eclipsed only by the resources waiting to be mined below the planet’s surface and within the asteroids.
    If.
    A lot of ifs had to be turned into certainties, and that was the real goal. Like dominoes falling, Eric’s snoop and scoot mission should lead to Stein’s marines taking out the Freedom Movement, which should clear the way for Thurston to drag his planet closer to full Alliance membership, and decades down the line Burgton’s plan for Thurston would be realised.
    Eric snorted. And maybe he was just over thinking it. Maybe the General just wanted another scumbag terrorist outfit like the Freedom Movement knocked on its arse. Eric could relate. He had spent too many years of his existence doing just that. Grandiose plan or simple plan, he was here and would see to it that the Freedom Movement did not prosper. He really didn’t like people who set bombs and killed innocents.
    Eric finished reading through Ken’s data and waited for landing. He had a place to start looking for a contact man and enough background information to be confident of his ability to get inside the Movement. Where that would lead him he didn’t know. Wherever he ended up, he would succeed. He always did and always would until one day he didn’t.
    Eric’s lips quirked. A little uncertainty was good for him. No way to think of random chance as just programming.
    The shuttle came in hot but the landing was smooth and Eric silently congratulated the pilot. He briefly wondered if the guy had been navy. The steward came around a few moments after the shuttle finished taxiing off the runway and opened the hatch. Eric was quick to take advantage of his seat position and was the first to leave.
    The port was a modern one. He didn’t have to use a ladder to leave. There was a proper debarkation tube leading to a lounge. It was empty. He glanced around the lounge, his sensors trawling for threat and anything of interest. He didn’t expect any dangers, but caution was ingrained after all these years and his programming backing it up was immutable. Data flickered over his vision, some coloured to attract his attention. When it did, the data blinked on and off briefly and parked itself onto a growing list. His attention danced all over his display, pausing briefly as this datum or that caught his notice, though there was nothing for anyone else to see. If they were close enough maybe they would see his eyes moving a little as he changed focus, but he doubted it. He knew what to look for and even he rarely noticed another Viper doing it.
    He focused upon the list and with a coded thought selected the Infonet node in the lounge.
    >_ Infonet: Logon Eric Martell account number #08965bHu532AsW... Done.
    A new window popped up on his display and Eric ran a quick search as he followed the signs in the lounge toward the exit. He wasn’t surprised to find a lack of security. All of that was up at the station for outsystem arrivals and departures. Any departures from the planet though, even shuttle departures bound for the station from the other side of the port,