Starbreaker Chapter Summaries
Chapter 16
Morgan reports to the New York chapter of the Phoenix Society as ordered. After being introduced to Catherine Gatto, an Adversary from Melbourne, he is given his orders: go with Catherine to Boston, despose Alexander Liebenthal, and bring Liebenthal back to Boston for trial. He is to avoid unnecessary fatalities, keep Catherine alive, and preserve what evidence he can.
Chapter 17
Dissatisfied with Catherine's equipment, Morgan takes her to the Nakajima Armaments store on 42nd Street. He offers to pay for Catherine's equipment, but she refuses at first. She knows that she can pay for her own gear; it will just cut the money she has been saving so that she and her husband can buy a house. Upgrading her weapons just means that she may have to take on another mission or two before she can resign her post and build her house. For reasons he is not willing to discuss with Catherine, Morgan offers to outfit her so that she will not have to remain an Adversary longer than she wants to.
Chapter 18
Polaris has spent the last three days sitting in a little room within the AsgarTech Building's Artificial Intelligence Research & Development Laboratory. He believes that the door is locked, and that he has no access to the local network. Tired of waiting to be let out, he attempts to crack the local net with brute force methods. While doing so, he contacted by Binah, one of the ten AIs who call themselves the Sephiroth. Binah explains that the door was never locked, and that the room is a test that he must pass by leaving it.
Chapter 19
Morgan and Catherine reach Boston in disguise, and enter the city through stealth and bribery. Upon finding a suitable hotel, they unpack their weapons and determine their plans. Catherine does not understand the reasons behind Morgan's efforts at secrecy until Morgan explains that his superiors suspect that there is more to the case than is apparent.
Chapter 20
Morgan and Catherine have begun their operation by raiding Liebenthal Wholesale Produce, the business Alexander Liebenthal ran before taking over Boston, after midnight. They see men loading a truck, and investigate it after knocking out the truck's driver and the men loading it. Morgan opens some of the crates that had been loaded into the truck and finds militia-grade weapons that Liebenthal is apparently selling to unknown customers, using his wholesale produce business as a cover. Morgan and Catherine continue their investigation inside the warehouse, having frightened the system administrator into giving them his userid and password; this allows Morgan to inspect Liebenthal's computers from inside without triggering traps set to thwart crackers attempting access from outside.