Of Smoke and Stardust [[COMPLETE]]]

CHAPTER 17-ALYA

Standing in the middle of her father's office, Alya felt sweat tickle down the back of her neck. Though she stood upright at attention, it felt like her knees would give away—whether from the relief of foiling her father's assassination or from the failure of letting it happen in the first place—at least her father was safe.

Vikram Nayer stood behind his desk, flanked by his personal guards and his cabinet members, along with a dark man in a brown suit who Alya recognized as Darren Shaw, the chairperson of the Intergalactic Gerene Corporation.

The circular room had one wall of smart glass, overseeing the grand waterfall; bulletproof, of course. The other walls were sound proof, with a screen for meetings and calls embedded in the front. A circular table sat in the center, but no one sat—there were no chairs. Sitting was weak and lazy, and the president didn't want any of that in his presence.

Her father's expression was unreadable; he had always been clam and controlled, but Alya knew the look on his face all too well. He is everything but pleased.

Zion was the first to break the thick silence. "Today's event was very unfortunate," he said, his face stern and voice grave. He pointed towards a large SmartScreen outfitted on the desk, displaying holographic details of every single twist and turn that wormed through the depths of the building. "Given the security details, they shouldn't have been able to even step foot onto the front lawn. My question is how they got through the President's front door, right under security's noses."

The security head of her father's personal guard stepped forward, his mouth parting as if to voice his own theory. But before he could do so, someone from her left grumbled, "they probably had an inside man set up to sneak them in as wait staff."

Parker.

Every single pair of eyes in the room flitted toward him. An odd look crossed his face, for a split second, then it was gone, back to his usual bored expression. Zion raised a brow and Parker just lifted one shoulder in a shrug. No one was as surprised as much as the Hawks were. The others had no idea who Parker really was—the sort of things he was capable of doing—the things he must have done before he was arrested. And how the hell would he know of such strategies unless...

He must have done horrible things like this, blown up banquets and hurt people—hell, he probably killed innocent people on a daily basis when he was an active rebel. Alya winced at the thought.

"I think he's right," Jorrit conceded, stumbling over his words. He pushed his slipping glasses back up his nose. "I think they must have had someone inside, someone good at hacking, set in place so the metal detectors wouldn't go off when they entered the building."

"If the person in question is a hacker," Alya spoke up. "He either had direct access to the control room, or somehow connected to the main server by means of authorized interaction, as Arsania's military network isn't freely accessible to the public domain. We need to see all the recent entries in both the control room and log-ins of the main database, maybe we can get some clues." She looked at her father expectantly, silently asking for permission to proceed with her case.

The President, who had been silent during this entire discussion, cleared his throat. "We were lucky that the IGC's Special Operative Taskforce were there. I thank Captain Géroux and the rest of the team for their help. If Lieutenant Nayer hadn't gotten me out of the way, I wouldn't be standing here right now." He gave Alya a slight nod of approval—a small gesture, but it was more than enough for her. "I think the Hawks have done their job nicely, but," he added, "I would like the Special Ops taskforce to take it from here."

Disappointment churned in Alya's chest. They had failed. The one time her father put his faith in them, and they had failed. Would he ever put his trust in the Hawks again?