Patterns of Chaos: Book One - The First War
Chapter 13

Jennifer casually walked through the abandoned skyscraper until she reached the former office of Paul Stragdoc. Warning signs had been placed all over the entrance, the double doors chained shut and padlocked. Jennifer merely took the lock in hand and stared at it, mentally manipulating its inner workings until it snapped open.

A moment later she was in, and looking directly at the large steel door authorities had discovered hidden behind Paul’s former desk. Six feet tall, four feet wide, and estimated to be around two feet thick, hiding God only knew what. There was a digital keypad on the wall, as well as a combination dial. Jennifer was confident that both were, in fact, bogus.

She stood facing the door and laid her hand upon it, stretching her mind into its mechanisms, not unlike how she had entered the office. She probed deeply, determining which pieces were linked to the detonation cycle, which were not, then, relatively confident in her choice, telekinetically popped the locking mechanism.

She had been right: the door could only be opened safely that way, every other visible unlock point was wired. The door swung wide, and she gasped at the contents.

Site A was where the Chancel’s initial construction had taken place. Somewhere so utterly isolated no one had even considered looking there for the Emperor once he had fled custody. These days, it remained isolated, but was now used as a planetary base of operations. The reason none of the Alliance members had found how they had been getting weapons to the planet was surprisingly simple: they had always been on the surface to begin with.

As Calixta entered the main facility, she opened her parka and brushed snow from her hair. It truly was unfortunate that her current evolutionary state did nothing for discomfort.

One of the technicians, whose nametag identified him as John Parsyns, greeted her. “Ms. Morsalis, I hope you had a safe trip?”

“Quite safe. You know why I’m here?”

“Yes ma’am. If you’ll follow me?” Parsyns led her and Karman down a corridor. “When the Emperor contacted us to begin work on this, we weren’t sure we could make it work, but we’re just about ready for the first tests.” He swiped a keycard, opening a pair of double doors.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here, to be his eyes and ears on the ground for the test later this week.” Calixta stretched as they walked, the long flight from Asia having given her some mild muscle cramps.

“The Emperor also mentioned you have some talents that might assist before we begin?” Parsyns looked at her curiously. As far as he knew, she was primarily a diplomat. He knew nothing of her visions.

Calixta smiled indulgently at him. “All in good time. I’d like to see my quarters and check in with the Emperor, but first if you would show it to me?”

“Of course, I was bringing you there first anyway. Forgive my presumption.”

A minute later, they were standing in a hanger, gazing at a sleek craft. “Beautiful.” Calixta pronounced. “It will be a marvellous addition to our fleet.”

Gold and silver bricks lined a wall of the vault, along with precious gemstones. Jennifer’s eyes could not help but widen at the wealth displayed. She had suspected that Paul had maintained a number of assets in here, but this…

She wondered how much she could get out. So much of this could be put to good use, in not only her fight but also seeded into communities around the world.

However, there was more on display than just Paul’s personal horde. There was also a computer server. This, Jennifer knew, was not something that she could take with her. And she had no idea if Paul was aware his security had been breached. Moreover, if he did, how long before he sent someone to stop her? Or blow the building remotely?

She sat down and began calling up files. She had found out the full story about Paul’s brazen escape from jail, how the briefly surviving guard had heard mention of “Site A”. Investigators after the fact thought it referred to the Chancel, she was not so sure. It somehow seemed more likely that he had had some kind of hidey-hole on Earth before relocating to space. And if so, there might be clues to his next moves there…

She sucked in air when she finally found it. “Antarctica?” It did make a perverse kind of sense: who the hell would look there? Most of the scientific research facilities there had been abandoned when the ice caps began a severe melt in the ’30s and the ones that had not…

She swore. The ones that had not were wholly owned subsidiaries of Psi-Omega Industries as part of their “Heavy Construction Division”. That was it, Site A was not just his hideout, it was where initial construction of the Chancel had taken place. And God alone knew what else.