Wing Commander #07 False Color by William Forstchen (best books to read in life .txt) 📕

was his innermost sanctum at the Hellhole base. He crossed to the bank of communications equipment along the far wall and seated himself at the console. With the ease of long and constant practice he activated a circuit that would alert him if there was any kind of surveillance in progress. He thought Banfeld trusted him—at least as much as the privateer leader trusted anyone—but it was always wise to take precautions in Delgado's line of work.

He switched on the hypercast transmitter and began programming the transmission parameters. He needed a narrow beam directed precisely at the communications station at the jump point from Hellhole back to Landreich. An ordinary broadcast might be picked up by Banfeld's men, and that would not be good for Antonio Delgado. While the computer worked on those instructions he called up the subroutines to encode and scramble the transmission, as added precautions.

At length the computer informed him that the parameters had all been met and the hypercast was ready to begin. He switched on the audio-visual module, leaned close to the microphone, and took a deep breath before he began to speak.

It was important that he inform his employers—his real employers, not Zachary Banfeld--of the latest developments on Hellhole. Banfeld hadn't shared his plans with Delgado, but the only possible reasons for readying Highwayman for a trip so soon after returning from the ill-fated attack on the Landreich carrier at Vaku were liable to go against the wishes of the Y-12 organization.

Delgado couldn't delay Banfeld more than a few days without raising suspicions, so it was important that he pass on the information as soon as possible. He hoped he was acting in time to be useful to Y-12. Though he was only a small cog in the Belisarius Group, he knew he played an important role in being one of the Confederation's men assigned to keep an eye on Zachary Banfeld.

He began his message.

Terran Confederation Embassy Compound, Newburg Landreich, Landreich System 1841 hours (CST)

"Damn it! The man's a loose cannon!" Clark Williams slammed his fist down on his desk, making a rare Firekkan vase jump alarmingly. "The stupid bastard wasn't satisfied with screwing up the mission against the carrier. Now he's abandoned us entirely and getting ready to go freelance!"

"You're sure your agent can be trusted?" Mancini asked, sounding calm and cool. "And, more importantly, are you sure you're interpreting the report accurately? This man Delgado didn't give any details as to what Banfeld is planning."

"Delgado's a good man. He's been sending reliable reports ever since we slipped him into the Guild organization." Williams leaned forward in his chair. "As for what Banfeld's up to, there're only two reasons I can think of to prep a stealth-capable scout. Either he's planning to make a run for it before Max Kruger finds out he was behind the carrier attack, or he's planning a run into Cat country. My vote's for the second choice."

"Any reason why? Other than your well-known reliance on logic and rational thought?" Mancini's tone was sarcastic, and Williams forced himself to calm down. The colonel's implied rebuke made him take stock of his behavior. It wasn't wise to let his anger get the better of his judgment, no matter how furious the events of the past few days had left him.

"I know Banfeld," he said, striving for a quiet, controlled voice to match Mancini's own. "He would only run if he had reason to believe that the Guild was going down once and for all, and he's got no reason to believe that the Landreichers know where any of his bases are. So until he has some kind of proof that the Guild is really in danger of immediate reprisals, his immediate response will be to try to strike some kind of new balance that'll keep the operation intact."

"That makes sense," Mancini admitted.

"So odds are he's on his way to Ragark. He'll want to sell the Cats whatever secrets he can provide." Williams sighed. "Not just for money, either, I'm afraid. He's liable to figure that word of the Landreichers refitting that carrier will stir Ragark up and make him attack. That would take the pressure off the Guild if Kruger or the Navy realize that Banfeld was the one who hit at Vaku."

"I'm not sure that would be such a bad idea," Mancini said. "Clearly Richards and Tolwyn were able to get a lot more of their systems on-line before Banfeld could launch his strike. The previous report from Delgado suggested they had salvaged Kilrathi planes backing up their Landreicher craft, and full shields on top of that. Banfeld couldn't hope to threaten them now . . . but maybe a full Kilrathi strike force could turn the trick."

"No, damn it!" Williams exploded again. "No! This isn't the way to handle the situation." He slumped back in his chair. It was all very well for Mancini to be so rational, but the fact remained that the whole scheme to take out the supercarrier before it had a chance to become a real threat to the Belisarius Group's plans for the Landreich had come unraveled thanks to Banfeld's failure. "The stupid bastard. First he screws up the carrier attack, and then he breaks and runs instead of finishing the job. Now this . . ."

Mancini shook his head. "He didn't screw up anything, Commissioner. He was just caught by bad intelligence data, that's all. And once he was confronted by an attack gone bad and a pair of destroyers threatening his ship, he did the only thing he could do. He got out of there while he could. You wouldn't expect Zachary Banfeld to go down with his ship against hopeless odds, would you? There'd be no profit at all in playing the hero."

"Was Springweather feeding us bad information?"

The colonel shrugged. "I doubt it. Look, she said they were having trouble with the shields on the carrier, and needed the tender. But the information was almost two