Prelude to War (Book 6)

[Akirapryde]

(6.17) Aftermath
Former St. Luke Monastery
Mountain Jaradat
Deep Core World of Khomm
The Second Reich of Humanity
May 10th, 1937

The sun beating down on the remains of the monastery was harsh. As the sun rose higher and higher in to the midday sky the temperature was rising. The long shadows of fighters flying over watch slowly crossed the area. Hovering lower than the fighters, the sounds of rotors of the close-support craft. They were buzzing about while they searched the surrounding area. The original guard force had been sent to a near by base for further questioning and debriefing. What happened was not just any raid on just any base. It was a strike at the very heart of the beast. Even before word of the raid had reached the normal chains of command, those of real power within the Reich had already heard of what had happened. This raid caused a great deal of chaos behind the scenes and could have lasting effects on the Reich power base and those who crave it. This was not just any base, this was a secret base controlled by an elite unit. And now, the commander of this unit has come all the way from Vandor III to seek the reason why this raid was able to take place.

The Reich is made up of many different military units, and a balance of power between them is how the Emperor keeps control over them all. Unlike its name, the Reich Army Research Division or RAR Division is not part of the Reich Army or the Ministry of War. They are a paramilitary unit created long before the current Emperor took the throne. The RAR has been the Emperors go to unit when it comes to unconventional warfare or, things that were too risky to leave to the Ministry of War or the Reich Intelligence Office. During the early days, the RAR ensured that any voice against the Emperor was silenced. But spying, spreading terror and enforcing the Emperor’s power was only a few of the RAR’s abilities. Their vast resources and the Emperor’s favor allowed them to create a large research section of their operations. It was due to this research is why they were targeted by an outside force.

The commander of the RAR Division had many unanswered questions. He hoped by coming here, that he would find those answers. There were facts that helped better understand how this raid was able to happen. But none of the facts that were known currently answered all the questions he had. Two weeks had passed since this very daring raid in to the heart RAR power base had taken place. The raid cost the RAR forty-two elite soldiers and psychic officers. Unlike other units, the RAR had the ability to see this defeat as a learning experience that would make way for many other victories. Still this was the second daring raid aimed directly at the RAR. Before just a few months ago, this kind of thing was seen as an impossibility. There were attacks on the RAR, but those attacks cost the attackers dearly and the RAR was able to carry out its revenge on the attackers. The last attack cost the RAR its new facility and a number of elite psychic officers.

This latest attack has not only cost the RAR more officers, it has cast a shadow f doubt over its whole operations. It is not common knowledge that the true power behind the Emperor is his precious RAR. And they owe their existence to the whim of the Emperor. Now their skill and power is being questioned in circles where such whispers were before never allowed. These whispers have reached far beyond the shadowy corridors of Vandor III and in to the Reich military. Already the scent of blood can be detected in the waters of the Reich Leadership base. It was unclear if the organizers of this latest raid had this in mind when they carried out this latest raid. However, the damage is done. Now the RAR is finding itself in a biter political struggle for survival among powers that it had ruthlessly purged in favor of their benefactor. This is why all levels within the Reich are watching these events and what happens next very closely.

This is the very reason why the shadowy leader of the RAR has come personally. Colonel Blake’s black highly shined boots stepped through the rubble as he looked around. Unlike the demolished site, his uniform was perfectly put together and looked very professional. The site had been the symbol of the Church’s influence in the deep core during the height of the Church within the region centuries ago. Here acolytes were trained to become full-fledged liars for their twisted order. When the Reich expanded in to this region, they discovered the monastery. The Reich murdered the occupants of the site and allowed the site to remain untouched for several decades. When the RAR was borne, they rediscovered the site. They saw it as a prefect base of operations and built a highly advance research center there.

The location was a closely guarded secret within the RAR till just a few days ago. When word from the raid broke, everyone knew about the base and the extent of the RAR influence. No one had any idea that the RAR resources had grown to include such an advanced center. Now this site was laid to waste and Colonel Blake was here to find out the hows and whys. He reached down and picked up a burned piece of computer hardware. He could no longer tell what it was neither used for nor even if it was a piece of larger equipment or just a piece of its own. The site had taken all of Colonel Blake’s influence to put together. Some of the largest advances the Reich had taken, came from this site. The RAR has ensured that the Reich has maintained it technological edge over its enemies. Now, the site had been completely laid to waste, “What a loss” he said in disgust.

He looked up to see four men walking towards him. Blake checked his watch and noted that they were twenty minutes late from the time he expected them. Colonel Blake expected the remaining commanders to delay arriving to greet him. Blake’s specialty was that he could profile anyone. He knew that Major Lelvor was a strong leader but lacked the confidence of field commander. The Major was forced to take charge when the site commander, Colonel Vupvar, was taken hostage. The responsibility of the destruction of this site rested completely on Lelvor’s shoulders. It was a fact that Colonel Blake could see in the major’s eyes. The other two majors were the base commanders of the two supporting airbases. By the way they allowed Lelvor to walk ahead of them, showed that each of them were ready to allow Lelvor to take full responsibility for the situation. However Blake knew about the situation than they gave him credit for. Each of the two had their own responsibilities for the raid.

The Captain behind the first three men was Captain Rivar, Her patrol ships had allowed the raiders to slip through and conduct their raid on the Monastery. She had been saved from a failed career when her rash actions cost lives. Other naval commanders saw danger in her rash behavior. Blake saw initiative in her actions. Her actions were paid in losses, but she did win on the battlefield. It was results that he saw in her career. But he never thought that she would cause him such a problem now. She was to ensure that no ships approached the world. She failed at that mission. In fact, all four of them had failed horrible and because of it, this valuable site is gone. Now each of them must answer for their mistakes.

The four walked up to Colonel Blake, but it was Major Lelvor who spoke first, “Sir, the package has been delivered to your flagship. Sir, had I known you were coming here, I would have met you here.” The first priority was to ensure that the Bothan scientist was secure. He had given them instructions to ensure that the package was delivered to his ship upon arrival.

“Major Lelvor, I have read the reports of the event. I have spent many hours going over them. I wanted to view the site personally before I spoke with anyone. I find that seeing things first hand, allows me much closer insight in to the events. I have a question. Two months ago, I dispatched three anti-air units to protect this site from air borne attacks. I do not see them here. Why are they not here?”

The Major didn’t blink, “Sir, when the units arrived, they landed at Shilo Airbase. Major Travis felt it more important to defend the two airbases. Of the units, we, to Colonel Vupvar disapproval, we received the man carried anti-air unit. The two fixed units were sent to protect the air bases.” In response to the first attack on a RAR operation the anti-air units seemed important to this sites defense.

Colonel Blake turned to Major Travis, “Is this true?”

Major Travis nodded, “Yes Sir, but Field Marshal Osus had agreed with me and supported my position.”

Colonel Blake nodded his understanding of the chain of events, which led to the reason for his visit. Field Marshal Osus had committed suicide after word of Colonel Blake’s arrival leaked out. “So you felt it was more important to protect your air bases rather than protect this site?”

Major Travis nodded, “Sir, with all due respect, it was our fighters which had driven off the attackers. It was our forces that had secured the package and kept it safe till your arrival. So the decision was proven to be a wise one.”

Colonel Blake looked at the burned piece in his hand. “Major, do you know how much it costs to build and fully equipped a Fleet Carrier?”

“Um? Sir?” the Major said slightly confused at the question.

“The cost of a completely fully equipped Fleet Carrier. Do you know what that cost is?” The Colonel restated the question. His tone was clearly heard through his voice.

“Sir, I couldn’t possibly know that answer,” Major Travis stated.

“Because the wisdom of your action has cost the Reich the equivalent of three Fleet Carriers and their air groups!” Colonel Blake stated as he tossed the burned computer component down in to the rubble. “This site held more secrets in technology than anywhere else in our realm.”

“But sir, we saved the girl. I was there, we saved the girl.” The Major tried to explain. He added, “What more could we have done in the situation.”

The Colonel moved before anyone else realized what was going on. Spinning on his heel, he drew his side arm. With out a blink of his eye he aimed it right between the eyes of Major Travis and pulled the trigger. The gunshot rang out as the sound of a body felling in to the rubble was heard afterwards. “Next time, don’t challenge my orders. Or at least have the dignity to follow your commander in the wake of your failure.” The Colonel holstered his weapon and turned to Major Lelvor. It was his fast thinking in which got the girl out of the risk filled situation. “Major, I sent you a list of items I expected to be researched upon my arrival. I trust that this task was done?”

The Major nodded, “Yes Sir.” He said pulling a datapad from his shoulder bag. “We have identified two of the three raiders. They are not Free Worlds Council, as we had first feared. We have identified, the being known only as Master Visst, leader of the occult known as the Inner Light. He is considered a danger to the Church. He is a close and personal friend to the Chancellor, Daz Murl. Though our spies has uncovered that the two have had some what of a fall out. Master Visst is normally accompanied with a bodyguard, which we do not believe was part of the raid directly. However he is also the personal friend with our second suspect.” Major Lelvor paused as he changed the image from that of Visst to a new image of a woman.

“We have identified the female suspect as the personal bodyguard of Senator Zall. Normally she along with the Senator are serving aboard the Republic Headquarters Narshana. Her name is Angelique Heartman.” He explained bring up a number of pictures of her from security cameras throughout the site and those taken by spies aboard the Narshana. The two had made no attempt to conceal their identity and this made identifying them very easy. “It is very possible that she is a Guardian. She appeared to have a deep-rooted relationship with a known Guardian named, Birgr. This Birgr is the aforementioned bodyguard of Master Visst.”

He changed the image once more to show spy photos of Birgr back on the Narshana. “We believe that the Guardians had a hand in this raid as well.” He said changing the images to that of the ship and armored man during the raid. “Sir, the ship that they used was cleverly painted not to reflect its Guardian background. However it matched the ship used by raiders against the Ganthery Military Proving Grounds on the World of Acatmen back in November of last year.” He changed the image of gun sight images taken from the world of Acatmen. “If you look at the wing design, the engine placement, you will see it’s the same ship. If this is not enough of a link, look at this.”

He changed the image to show a female yielding a laser sword. “During that raid, a unknown human female suspect was seen rallying the slaves as a distraction. We could not positively identify the human female from our security footage there till a few days ago. What are the chances of a woman coming close to her description and the ship that matches perfectly? The two raids have to be linked. And look at the armor; there are similar markings on it as we have seen on armor that we have seen in historical documents. Here, is a prefect example, we have images of when the Guardian leader Raynar was assassinate. Here we see an image of an armor looking just like it among the Guardians. The markings are a near prefect match. The design is nearly prefect match as well. The image is some what distorted but you can make out the armor and how it matches the one used here.” The Major finished his briefing.

“Thank you Major, so the Republic has decided to strike first. It was much of what I had considered before my arrival. Do we know how they found this site?” The Colonel asked.

The Major nodded, “I believe we do. We were able to trace the leak back to Vandor III and a security breach at a local factory there. At the time, we had not considered the two situations were linked until we learned of a sighting of a ship on Vandor III, which matched the description of our shuttle. Just about two weeks before the raid here, a civilian reported seeing a ship land in a meadow near the township of Tredar. A scouting party was sent out but no ship or landing sight was discovered. The report along with the description was filed and no further action was taken on the report. While searching for more sightings of our mysterious ship, I found this report. When I inquired about the report, I found the sighting matched our ship. On a hunch, I sent an image of our female to the local security force on Vandor III. It turned out that she had been assigned to a local factory but had gone missing shortly after the security breach.” He changed the image to an official Ministry of Labor ID with Angel’s photo on it.

“It was learned that our Ms. Heartman had nothing to do with the security breach. However, she had to be there for something. I searched our records and found that this is the same factory where we are working on the Pegasus project. I demanded that the local security force investigate these facts. They found that the communication network had been breached and hacked. More surprisingly was that the plans of the Grinder B had been hacked and downloaded. They couldn’t find anything else that had been tampered with. However, we are leaving nothing to chance this time around.”

The news was troubling to say the least. “Indeed, place a full halt on all projects. Vandor was our central hub for multiple projects. IF they were able to copy the plans they were able to sabotage the plans as well. Have our people go over everything. Every little detail must be checked.” He said and pulled a comlink from his pocket and activated it. The voice of a female came online, “You can not image how happy that you are still alive. Did you get the message I left in your cabin?”

“Y…Yes Sir….” Kaylee said. She was the focus of these troubling raids. She was the Bothan scientist that the Republic seemed to be determined to rescue. “I….did, Sir”

“Good, so you know now, that I have your family in my sights. They are still unaware of your current situation. I promise you this; they are safe for the time being. However, their well being now rests in your ability to further assist us. The longer you serve us, the longer they will continue to be safe from me. I have heard about your attempts to slow down our projects and the games you have been playing with numbers. These will come to an end now.” He said coldly, “If you displease me, one time. I will deliver your younger brother’s head to your lap. Then the next time will be your father’s, and your mother’s. I will keep killing those close to you till you have nothing left to live for. Look through the file and see the photos. I have spent allot of time and resources to put your past life in my sights. I have traced down all of them. Even your former boyfriend, still keeps your image in a locket. Look, he has a wife and child now. Think of all those lives now resting on your actions. Keep playing games with me child and people start dying. Is this understood?”

“Y…..yes……sir….” there was pain in her voice. It was the first time she heard the voice of the man that had targeted her from the beginning.

“You will be given access to certain files. You WILL find what has been done to these projects no matter how small it was.” He ordered then closed the link before she could say anything else. Reports of her attempts to sabotage the RAR projects had crossed his desk more than once. Before November they were only delaying tactics, but now the have grown bolder and have costs techs their lives. His plan to curb her attempts was as savage and terror filled as was expected from the leader of the RAR. He had placed spies back on her homeworld and did some digging. He knew that one or two members of her family were not enough. They dug in to her past and found more friends as well as more family members. The net was cast wide and made protecting them impossible for the Free Worlds Council. It was clear that the Free Worlds Council knew she was alive now. So he ensured that his spies were in place to target those who were close to her. Her desire to protect those that she loved would be great enough to ensure her loyalty for months to come. To ensure that she understood that he meant what he said, he killed a former classmate and gave her the man’s ears. The images of the murder and removal of the ears would do the trick. He knew that he had her cornered now.

The Colonel looked around, “what I don’t know, is how they are traveling through our space without being detected. We know that the Pegasus was an advanced infiltrator shuttle with some minor stealth abilities that we are overcoming. However there is a missing link here.”

“A link, Sir, that I can help with that Sir” Captain Fisher said walking up. Captain Fisher headed up the RAR’s powerful intelligence group. The group was a direct competitor of the Reich Intelligence Ministry. The two hardly shared information and never worked together. The RAR answered directly to the Emperor while the RIM answered to the Estates General. This caused the two to become in conflict at times. “Our spies have uncovered something that you have to see, Sir.” He gave a nod that indicated that others should not see this.

The Colonel waved the others to leave the area. “I will contact each of you should I need anything more. Till then, tend to your tasks.” He said and watched the others leave. He turned to Fisher who was standing and waiting. “Speak”

“Sir, at first we thought that this was only in the design phase based on what our spies were telling us. However our techs has discovered that this might be the means that the Republic is using to penetrate our space undetected.” He explained while activating a datapad. The image of the Crusade Cloak ship appeared on the pad as a detailed over lay. “Our spies recovered the plans from a Varl shipyard near Saki. At the time, we were led to believe that this ship had not been laid yet. The plans were carried there in secret by personal courier and only a few of their most trusted designers were allowed to see them. The level of completion within the plans was remarkable for Varl designers. These plans were smuggled to my desk with the greatest of urgency. As my people dug through the plans, we found that this ship is equipped with some kind of cloaking device. It far exceeds the abilities of the Pegasus ship. From what we can tell, the ship is able to actually become invisible to all forms of detection.”

“We cannot explain how it works or even how to detect it. Truth be told Sir, had someone suggested this to me a few weeks ago, I would have laughed in their face. Now, I am a believer. We know now that some how the Varl has experienced a large leap in technology and development. More importantly, nothing like this ship appears in any of their shipyards to this date. I have had our spies’ double check, and most have reported back already. It is not being built at any known yard. So they must be building this ship in a new shipyard, somewhere we don’t know of.”

This was most troubling. Not only did the Varl have a new class of ship, they had a yard that was otherwise unknown to the RAR. Colonel Blake didn’t know which bit of news troubled him more. “Find that yard and get these plans to the Phoenix Team. There are to stop all other projects and uncover the secrets behind this cloaking technology.” The frustration was clear to hear in his voice, “November, we are lucky enough to get the Pegasus plans, and now this. I do not discount our luck. But what I want to know is how did we miss these two ships? The RIM must be holding back on us. I will have to talk to the Emperor about this.” He paused again as he considered his priorities. “Tell the Phoenix Team, that detection is of the highest priority.” He added and Captain Fisher turned to leave but Blake stopped him.

“I am not done with you. I will have the Emperor authorize this mission personally. If the Republic wants to play games with kidnapping, then we will meet them in kind. The relationship between this Master Visst and Chancellor Murl is based on a common distrust of each other. Our reports from Lord Hitosh were detailed over this. The Chancellor does not trust Master Visst and the likewise. However the Chancellor is a very prideful man. Let us turn this to our favor. A distraction if you would. I shall seek to have Lord Hitosh host a peace conference. We will invite our lady Heartman but not he boyfriend. We shall invite Senator Zall a known opponent of the Chancellor but we will exclude Chancellor Murl by name. We will also invite the media to our conference and place Zall before the lights. Let us also invite the Guardian Ambassador as well. This shall cause the Chancellor make a mistake in actions and allow your team Captain to go after the real target.”

“Real target Sir?” Captain Fisher asked as he listened carefully.

He pulled his own datapad and activated it. “Yes Captain, you team will go after this woman.” A ghostly image of Carissa came to life. “She is their leading researcher. Our spies have shown that she is working deeply on some type of super weapon for the Republic. The surprising thing about this is how they hide her. She is hidden away in plan site within the medical bay of the Narshana. Only guarded by limited guard patrols within the area. Kidnapping the woman should be fairly easily. Regardless of success, this will be a message to the Republic. Regardless of success or failure, I want them to understand that such acts will not be tolerated. If the woman cannot be kidnapped, kill her. I want them to see that they are not as safe as they think they are. Make this messy but not traced back to us. If we can somehow frame the Chancellor’s office of allowing this to happen, so much the better.”

The Colonel paused as to gather his thoughts. Then he nodded his end and Captain Fisher nodded, “Anything else Sir?” The Colonel shook his head and the Captained turned to leave. As he did so, he activated his comlink, “Helm, plot us a course for the Narshana. We are going hunting for a researcher. And let our newbs know, its time for them to earn their keep.”