Task Force - FNG
#9 of Task Force
I stood looking through the two way mirror, my back towards all the commotion within the room. Ever since our arrival, the before seemingly limited staff at Center 17 had crowded this chamber pouring over every piece of equipment and blue print we had scavenged from the usurper's house. I ignored most of it staring through the glass one level above the ferret strapped to a chair on the opposite side.
I had a lot of questions about this curious individual who Dr. Hall though so important to send us after. Then, even more strangely, she had us bring him back here. I would have thought a simple criminal like this would have been handed over to federal authorities to be dealt with. It seamed though that he was under our jurisdiction now.
The interrogation was set to start soon. Hopefully I would get some of my questions answered then. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Jessica standing behind me holding two cups of coffee. Her hair was back in its usual pony tail but looked slightly frazzled from our recent short notice deployment and lack of sleep.
"I thought you might like some coffee Kirian."
She offered me one of the paper cups and I accepted it silently. She stood next to me for a moment starring at the prisoner.
"What do you suppose this is all about?" she asked me.
"Probably to find out what he knows and make sure it doesn't reach the wrong ears."
I watched a while longer, slowly sipping the scalding beverage. The door on the near wall of the room swung open casting a ray of light onto the ferret. Then the door shut and Dr. Hall walked across the room, flanked by Tank and Teague. They stopped but the doctor continued forward until she was within arm's reach of the bound figure. Speakers clicked on in the room we were in, magnifying the sounds from the interrogation chamber. Dr. Hall spoke.
"What's your name?"
"Like you haven't already looked it up."
"What's your name?"
"Hogan Quakenbush."
"Who are you?"
"I just told you, Hogan Quakenbush!"
"I didn't ask for your name again, I asked who you are."
"What's the difference?"
"Come now Hogan, I know you graduated top of your class from the Global Technology Institute. You should know that a name is not who someone is. I know of five names which, in military circles, would be dead cadets, but in reality are active fighting forces. But you know this already. The question is... Who are you?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything"
"Well, I'm sure you already know my birthday, who my parents are, my social security, selective service, and driver's license numbers. You know my high school and college record and probably my employment. What else do I need to tell you?"
"Let's start with college. I noticed that you spent close to two years in school after getting your masters but never achieved your PHD?"
He laughed. "Oh, that. You're right, I was top of my class when I graduated from computer science and engineering after getting my bachelors in programming. I decided to apply for and was later accepted into the doctorial program. GIT has one of the most secure networks in the world. More so than many governments, and for obvious reasons. If you're teaching the top brains in the world computer programming, everyone who fails their public speaking final is going to want to use their new abilities to fix that mistake. I decided to use that fact as an advantage and presented my dissertation in an... uncommon fashion. Meaning to say, I hacked into their database and switched my transcript with my dissertation paper. Well, unfortunately one of the members of the review board, a crotchety old gecko, was the chief programmer of the campus security system. He didn't like me beating him so he had me thrown in front of the integrity council and expelled."
Jessica sniggered. I looked at her and rolled my eyes before turning my attention back to the scene below.
"After that I bounced between software companies, giving each a glimpse of what they were capable of with the right brain before moving on. I was doing time at a video game producer when I found my calling. They had me programming the graphics engine for their state of the art, "new standard" FPS. On the side, I was designing many of the weapons that players would be using. Somehow, my design sketches got out to Gregoire Weapon Systems. Next thing I know, the CEO himself shows up in a helicopter offering me a job with a six figure paycheck. Needless to say, I was on a plane out to their secure dessert facility the next day. Forget two weeks' notice."
"I thought I recognized him."
I turned to see who was talking. Dr. Easterling was now standing on my other side also watching the proceedings.
"Did you work with him?"
"Not directly, but my business did a few joint projects with GWS and I'd see him on occasion. I don't know if he ever saw me. I liked to keep myself out of view form most in case there were any lasting prejudices."
"I spent close to ten years working there. I loved the work. There was always a new challenge, a new problem with an innovative solution. A new government contract to keep us in the black. I quickly made a name for myself and had plans of staying there till I retired.
"What happened?"
"Some young, rising hot shot saw me as a threat to his ambition. He planted evidence that I was embezzling company funds. There wasn't enough to land me in jail, but they had to take action. So, I was back at my house in Wamego working from the money my considerable severance package to start my own private company. I hacked in my free time as a sort of challenge but it almost became an addiction. That's when I was caught by you."
"Thank you, I'll be back to talk to you again shortly."
I gulped down the last cooling dregs of my coffee and turned away from the window. Well, at least we knew his story. At least as much as he would tell willingly. I turned towards Jessica, she looked dead on her feet. Dr. Hall's voice came over my earpiece.
"All task force operatives are to report to their beds for a mandatory eight hour sleep cycle."
"Well," yawned Jess, "Show's over for now."
"Yeah, now she'll start nit picking for details. I'm sure we'll know something tomorrow."
We walked the rest of the way in silence. My eyes were heavy from being awake for close to 36 hours. We had to be on call in case there was any evidence that this Hogan had given any information about us to the enemy and we would have to react. I ran into Trestan on the way. He had been with Cpt. Tala doing some routine maintenance and cleaning of the aircraft and hangar. Back at our quarters I climbed into bed and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the mattress.
My alarm woke me abruptly at 0200 hours the next day. I climbed out of bed, all traces of weariness removed. I walked to the armory and inspected my new armor. It was truly remarkable, and Dr. Easterling had suggested that this was only a prototype ant that more improvements were coming. I removed an armor plate and inspected it. It bent in my hand when I applied force to it. Something this light and flexible couldn't possibly be all that strong.
I grabbed a replacement from a large crate and my sidearm. I walked to the range, passing Teague on his way to the gym. I placed the ceramic plate down range and took a standing position on the firing line. After declaring the range hot I aimed down the sights. Squeezing off three rounds I lowered the weapon and retrieved my "target." There was a small nick, barely larger than a pinprick, in the center of the plate but that was the only visible damage. Impressive. I left the armor piece at the range with a note for the others to inspect.
I returned to the armory and replaced the segment I had removed from my armor. It was then that I noticed another feature of the new suits. They had multiple locations to integrate a wide variety of holsters and equipment holders. That would definitely be useful.
Soon I was back in the viewing room to see if anything new had come up. Hogan had been provided a cot and was currently asleep on it. Two guards stood by the door. Dr. Hall soon joined me. It looked as if she hadn't slept at all.
"How are things going? Any new information out of him?"
"We were talking until just an hour ago when I decided we had learned enough for now."
"And?"
"It seems he was truly only hacking us for his own academic value. He also has not turned any information over to anyone. I had a team sweep the rest of his house for anything you may have missed in your quick search."
"So, what are we going to do with him?"
"That's the problem. The knowledge he learned from our computers is a danger to us and to him. We can't just let him leave here. From my standpoint, we have three options. Option one, we kill him. Probably not proper but extremely effective. Option two, we have enough evidence to land him in jail for a very long time. However, he will eventually get out and I don't know how long we will be running squads for the Special Assignments Team, at which time he'll again become a liability. Third and the one I believe we should use is to employ him and his considerable talents. I have looked over his work at GWS and what he was working on after he left. A think he could be a real asset to Dr. Easterling in developing new equipment to keep your team safe and armed with the most cutting edge weaponry available. However, this decision is not up to me. You and your team will have the final say on this subject."
"Yes ma'am."
I excused myself and returned to the lounge. I called the squad together along with Dr. Easterling. When they had all arrived I laid out what Dr. Hall had said as well as my recommendation to use him. Jessica, Tank, and Easterling were in favor of bringing him in. Teague and Trestan were more skeptical. However, after much deliberation, I was able to convince Teague not to shoot him. We headed to the briefing room to set it up. Trestan did have one idea that I liked.
At 0500 the door to the room opened. Hogan walked through the threshold and the door swung shut behind him casting the room in darkness for a second. A spotlight snapped on revealing a chair in the center of the floor. We sat three rows of seats above him where we would only be seen as shadows. The effect was rather eerie. I spoke, my voice magnified by the room's surround speaker system.
"Take a seat Mr. ... Quakenbush."
Teague sniggered silently next to me. I elbowed him to get him to shut up. Hogan stepped into the light and sat nervously. He looked as if he had gotten barely any sleep. His fur was on end and his hair was matted. His ears twitched in agitation. He pushed his glasses higher on his nose and gazed up at us.
"Due to the information you have obtained by... questionable means, we cannot allow you to walk free from this facility. The most obvious solution would be to take you out to the live fire training center and simply shoot you. It is my belief, and that of my colleagues, that to kill you would be a waste of a proven valuable resource. Instead I would like to propose a choice B. After review of your work, I would ask that you cooperate with our developers the help improve the group you have devoted such... interest to."
The room went silent.
"Of course, if that doesn't sound good we can always go back to shooting you."
"No! I would love to help. It's been my goal to work on a big government project. That would be amazing. And, I really don't fancy dying."
The lights clicked on revealing our faces.
"Well, that's good."
I stood up along with the rest of the squad.
"Let me introduce your new boss. This is Doctor Easterling."
"Doctor Easterling? The Doctor Easterling?"
The human stepped out from behind us.
"Yes, me. The Doctor Easterling as you put it."
"Oh by the Phoenix! Your work is amazing. A little complicated and expensive, but the technology behind it and all your innovations. I can't believe I'll be working alongside Doctor Easterling!"
He continued to expound on his delight. I turned to Tank.
"He seems happy."
"Yeah, kind of like a cub in a candy store."
After Hogan had calmed down from his emotional tension and following explosion I walked down to properly greet him. I offered my paw and he took it. For being nearly twenty years older than me he seemed to view me as a superior. Good thing we got that out of the way quickly. Jessica followed me. As always, she could voice in words what I had trouble expressing.
"Welcome to the Task Force. We're going to make a great team."