Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 20 (e)

"Do you have the coordinates?" Strasser asked. "Or are we to fumble about till we find it?"

"We have the coordinates," replied Gaulle through narrowed eyes. "What we don't have is a lot of time."

Strasser knew well enough from Gaulle's tone that he was not in the mood for nonsense. One look over at Goroshenko indicated the level of disquiet in the room. It made Strasser fearful and she shared a look with Nguyen that said "Be careful."

"We can begin right away," said Strasser neutrally. There was a table set up already with two chairs. She took a seat and Nguyen took the one opposite.

Goroshenko came up with a datapadd. "This is the coordinates of both Singh's cabin and the servers in the security office."

"Does it matter which one is done first?" asked Nguyen.

Gaulle considered the question as it was a good one. "The security office first. I want all the evidence they have gathered so far destroyed. Then I want Singh's cabin completely sanitized."

"Aren't there other places where evidence might still be such a medical or in the main memory of the ship's AI?" questioned Strasser.

"There are," answered Gaulle. "But destruction of CICI will destroy not only the AI but all security footage as well as the analysis on the ship. There is forensic evidence likely in the infirmary but nothing to suggest it can be linked to us."

Strasser bit her lip in doubt but said nothing. "We can begin as soon as I absorb the location."

Unlike Goroshenko's ability where he was connected to his body and travelled to a location and then apported, Strasser was a remote viewer who could instantly be an observant presence elsewhere and over great distance. The furthest she had ever done was from an orbital facility to a planet below. She didn't fully understand how she was able to virtually travel. In many cases, it was connected to a person or an item and she could find her way there. Later, she trained so she could navigate using coordinates. It wasn't an exact science and she sometimes got lost. She was also more or less limited to what she could see. The one surprise add-on to her remote viewing was that if she touched another person with psi ability, they could virtually travel together. When Strasser and Nguyen did this, the results were remarkable.

Strasser looked at the mapped coordinates and soaked in all the information. Then she sat quiet and handed the datapadd to Nguyen who handed it to Goroshenko.

"We're ready," said Nguyen. She reached out to hold Strasser's hand across the table and then they both closed their eyes.

The two women looked meditative. Goroshenko took a seat, yawned, leaned back and closed his eyes. No telling how long it was going take. Gaulle, Adjani and Adisa quietly took their own seats.

Strasser and Nguyen were instantly transported to the ship's security office. There was no sound but they could see a flurry of activity in the various offices. In the disembodied form they took, the two women shared a consciousness where one was the driver and the other, the passenger. There was no complete melding of the minds. Both were free to converse with the other. The passenger did not control the destination but could suggest along the way.

"Can you look in that office?" asked Nguyen.

Strasser did as asked and they took up a position high up in the corner of the security control room where a number of people monitored video feeds across several screens. Most showed Central Plaza which showed bodies on the ground and even a fire occurring in the dining area. A close-up showed that one of the bodies was Singh. Neither woman was friends particularly with the man but he was a daily contact.

"I feel so sad," said Strasser. "All the man ever wanted was to please Gaulle."

"Why would anyone shoot him?" asked Ngyuen. There were no answers. Of if there were, they couldn't hear it from their silent observation post.

"We need to go," said Strasser.

They moved as one down the corridor to a door that CICI written on it. In a flash they were inside the room where Miguel and Boz had just been. The women didn't realize that and for their purposes better the room was empty.

"This is it?" asked Nguyen. "This is the room that needs to be burned?"

"Yes," said Strasser. "The AI computer in this room has all the ship security recordings and analysis."

When Nguyen first leaned she could set fire with her mind, her range was fairly limited. At first, she had to be in the room but eventually and slowly it extended to line of sight. It was how she got caught. Security cameras had repeatedly recorded her about 50 meters from what was thought to be arsons. However, the fires remained a mystery in terms of what caused them. And there was never any evidence to suggest that she'd approached at any time closer to the fires' origins.

With the help of Gaulle, Nguyen was able to extend her range but her thinking had always been two dimensional. She could never free her mind or remain calm enough to use abstract thinking. This all changed when she was introduced to Strasser. It had not all been peaches and cream from the start. The interaction had been caustic due in large part from forcing the skills of remote viewing and pyro-kinetics psionics to work together.

Just when everyone seemed to give up on the idea of it working, Nguyen had approached Strasser with a bottle of wine. It was a peace offering for her being so difficult. The two women broke bread, got very drunk and then quite unexpectedly ended up in each other's arms. The next morning they successfully used remote viewing to enter the home of Aubrey Chase Chen and light candles in her dining room. After that, they were a team and together as a couple.

If Strasser could take her there, Nguyen could set it on fire using kinetic energy. Firing up a computer room was a piece of cake.

"The fire will be confined here. No chance of endangering anyone?" asked Nguyen. She always asked this. At no time had anyone died from her fires. They burned hot, left destruction and were snuffed out.

"It is safe," affirmed Strasser.

Nguyen concentrated and the room exploded in white hot flame that consumed everything in the room. The AI server burned from the inside out and spread beyond. The conflagration did not last long, possibly a minute and then simple blew out. Nothing remained but ash.

"It's done," said Nguyen.

"Good," replied Strasser cheerfully. "Next location then."

And in the blink of an eye, Strasser sent them to the next set of coordinates. It was Singh's cabin. It was a tidy affair at least in compared to the cabin the two women shared which had as many clothes on the floor as in the closet.

"What does Gaulle want us to destroy?" asked Nguyen doubtfully. "There isn't anything in here."

"He has equipment that he used to tap into the ship computer," said Strasser. "It is likely out of sight in case of someone entering the room when he was not here."

"I see some luggage through that open closet door," said Nguyen.

Strasser saw it as well. "Only way to be sure is to fire the whole room, I think."

"Guess so," said Nguyen. "No one in danger in the room?"

Strasser reached out and confirmed the room was empty. "All clear."

Nguyen set the entire cabin on fire. From corner to corner every item burned in white hot energy. Electronics fried, DNA gone and the room scrubbed on anything substantive except dust.

"We done here?" asked Nguyen. This type of work drained her. From this point, she relied on Strasser to get her back safely.

"Yes, all done," replied Strasser. "Let's go home, baby."

And in a blink of an eye, they were back in Gaulle's cabin. Strasser opened her eyes while Nguyen slumped a bit in exhaustion.

Gaulle stood up and simply said: "Good work."