<b>Five Months Ago-Azguard</b>
“You used to work for Black Hand.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The author of the statement was standing before her with a grim expression on his face. Why he had just uttered the statement was beyond Karen’s comprehension. It was general knowledge that she had infiltrated the Galactic Coalition as a Black Hand agent prior to the merging of the Galactic Coalition with the Outer-Rim Sovereignty. Like some of her colleagues, though not all thanks to Xander Griff and Jorai Kovel, she had transferred over to the Coalition Intelligence Bureau. She was now the number two in the CIB.
“Yes I did,” she allowed cautiously wondering where this conversation was going to end up.
“When did you join?”
Karen frowned. He had to know all of this already. Why he was asking her these questions she didn’t know but he was powerful so it would do to play along. “When it was first formed sir. I was recruited straight out of University.”
“So you were there throughout Black Hand’s rise and fall.”
“Yes sir.”
“You then joined the CIB with the dissolution of Black Hand.”
“Yes sir.”
“What do you think about the state of the CIB?”
“I suspect the same as you do sir. They’re good and efficient, but no match for Black Hand at its height, too much watching over their shoulders by the government.”
“Yes, that was the one advantage of my staying loyal and sheltering Griff. It gave Black Hand the trust of the Sovereignty. Of course in retrospect maybe Griff was a megalomaniacal bastard and the council was right all along.”
Karen didn’t dare respond to the statement, her host didn’t always have the strongest hold on his temper and it wouldn’t do to disagree with him.
“Of course know we don’t have the people to rebuild Black Hand. Nobody is loyal enough to keep their mouth shut. Regard’s speeches have just worsened the problem. Everybody is feeling all happy and loving their fellow man at the exact same moment that the threat to us is the highest thanks to cheap rhetoric and pandering for support.”
Once again Karen was forced to remain silent. Very few people were secure enough in their jobs to take jabs at the chief of state. Her host might have felt that he was in the position to but she knew that she wasn’t.
“How did Black Hand originally rise to prominence Karen?”
“Through selecting the right people and not caring about the rules. Nobody said no to Black Hand and nobody would’ve betrayed it either.”
“Well as much as I’d occasionally like we can’t create a climate of fear towards any organization of the Galactic Coalition. As for betrayal, Imperial Intelligence is everywhere trying to subvert everybody. The military is for the most part good but you just need one person who is in the pay of Imperial Intelligence.”
“We do limit information sir.”
“Yes that’s fine for small scale projects but what about big projects? What do you do then?”
“I don’t know sir.”
“And that’s the problem, nobody knows anything.”
The time had come for Karen to try to make her escape from the interview. She glanced at the wall chronometer, discreetly enough so it appeared that she was trying to hide her actions though she was sure that her host had noticed.
“Very well Karen, if you don’t have any suggestions I must let you get on with your work.”
Karen nodded and then turned on her heel leaving the darkened office and her host in his silent contemplation.
<center>*****</center>
Marth just sat there staring at the door as it swished shut leaving his office in the same, slightly dark state that it had been in before.
<i>“What was to be done?”</i>
<center>*****</center>
<b>5 Months Ago-CN-1653</b>
“Good morning sir, what may I do for you today?”
Bourny Kevein looked around the dimly underground chamber that was Archive Site B12. This was the only site in the galaxy that had the complete records of all the various research projects that the Sovereignty had ever undertaken. Along with his team, a group of expatriate Bakuran Scientists, he was in charge of examining some of these projects and considering whether or not it would be functional and feasible to create them.
Even though CN-1653 was a super-secret military base all the secure areas on the planet were guarded by heavily armed guards. This location was no exception, as always there was a guard on duty as well as a research assistant who Bourny was sure had a blaster tucked away somewhere on his body.
“Just a terminal today, I’m going to examine the communications records.”
“Very good sir, I think you’ll find some real gems in there. The Sovereignty sure researched a lot of different ideas.”
“Well you never know which idea will be the one that wins the war for you, the scientists are just as important as the soldiers you know. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a lot of work to do.”
<b>Three hours later…</b>
Bourny wiped a droplet of sweat from his brow as he selected another menu. The archive was part of an underground complex that was for the most part chilly but the archive always became intolerable it was so hot.
His clammy hands grasped the mouse as he selected another menu this time jammers. Slowly he scrolled down the list taking a glance at the descriptions that accompanied each item. Most of the devices had been put to use already and were performing admirably. Interspersed among them were a few crazy ideas dreamed up by some scientist who had a bigger imagination than technical knowledge.
Then his hand froze. What an interesting idea, and feasible to. The equipment was for the most part fairly standard. A few special modifications and some programming and it could work. This device could make the Coalition unstoppable! He transferred the information to a special datacard that if it was plugged into any slot except his own personal datapad it would self-destruct. Clearing all screens he left the monitor to the research assistant and then he stood up and left the sweltering heat of the archive for the comfortable coolness of the hallway. On the way out he nodded to the guard but as usual received no response.
“You used to work for Black Hand.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. The author of the statement was standing before her with a grim expression on his face. Why he had just uttered the statement was beyond Karen’s comprehension. It was general knowledge that she had infiltrated the Galactic Coalition as a Black Hand agent prior to the merging of the Galactic Coalition with the Outer-Rim Sovereignty. Like some of her colleagues, though not all thanks to Xander Griff and Jorai Kovel, she had transferred over to the Coalition Intelligence Bureau. She was now the number two in the CIB.
“Yes I did,” she allowed cautiously wondering where this conversation was going to end up.
“When did you join?”
Karen frowned. He had to know all of this already. Why he was asking her these questions she didn’t know but he was powerful so it would do to play along. “When it was first formed sir. I was recruited straight out of University.”
“So you were there throughout Black Hand’s rise and fall.”
“Yes sir.”
“You then joined the CIB with the dissolution of Black Hand.”
“Yes sir.”
“What do you think about the state of the CIB?”
“I suspect the same as you do sir. They’re good and efficient, but no match for Black Hand at its height, too much watching over their shoulders by the government.”
“Yes, that was the one advantage of my staying loyal and sheltering Griff. It gave Black Hand the trust of the Sovereignty. Of course in retrospect maybe Griff was a megalomaniacal bastard and the council was right all along.”
Karen didn’t dare respond to the statement, her host didn’t always have the strongest hold on his temper and it wouldn’t do to disagree with him.
“Of course know we don’t have the people to rebuild Black Hand. Nobody is loyal enough to keep their mouth shut. Regard’s speeches have just worsened the problem. Everybody is feeling all happy and loving their fellow man at the exact same moment that the threat to us is the highest thanks to cheap rhetoric and pandering for support.”
Once again Karen was forced to remain silent. Very few people were secure enough in their jobs to take jabs at the chief of state. Her host might have felt that he was in the position to but she knew that she wasn’t.
“How did Black Hand originally rise to prominence Karen?”
“Through selecting the right people and not caring about the rules. Nobody said no to Black Hand and nobody would’ve betrayed it either.”
“Well as much as I’d occasionally like we can’t create a climate of fear towards any organization of the Galactic Coalition. As for betrayal, Imperial Intelligence is everywhere trying to subvert everybody. The military is for the most part good but you just need one person who is in the pay of Imperial Intelligence.”
“We do limit information sir.”
“Yes that’s fine for small scale projects but what about big projects? What do you do then?”
“I don’t know sir.”
“And that’s the problem, nobody knows anything.”
The time had come for Karen to try to make her escape from the interview. She glanced at the wall chronometer, discreetly enough so it appeared that she was trying to hide her actions though she was sure that her host had noticed.
“Very well Karen, if you don’t have any suggestions I must let you get on with your work.”
Karen nodded and then turned on her heel leaving the darkened office and her host in his silent contemplation.
<center>*****</center>
Marth just sat there staring at the door as it swished shut leaving his office in the same, slightly dark state that it had been in before.
<i>“What was to be done?”</i>
<center>*****</center>
<b>5 Months Ago-CN-1653</b>
“Good morning sir, what may I do for you today?”
Bourny Kevein looked around the dimly underground chamber that was Archive Site B12. This was the only site in the galaxy that had the complete records of all the various research projects that the Sovereignty had ever undertaken. Along with his team, a group of expatriate Bakuran Scientists, he was in charge of examining some of these projects and considering whether or not it would be functional and feasible to create them.
Even though CN-1653 was a super-secret military base all the secure areas on the planet were guarded by heavily armed guards. This location was no exception, as always there was a guard on duty as well as a research assistant who Bourny was sure had a blaster tucked away somewhere on his body.
“Just a terminal today, I’m going to examine the communications records.”
“Very good sir, I think you’ll find some real gems in there. The Sovereignty sure researched a lot of different ideas.”
“Well you never know which idea will be the one that wins the war for you, the scientists are just as important as the soldiers you know. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a lot of work to do.”
<b>Three hours later…</b>
Bourny wiped a droplet of sweat from his brow as he selected another menu. The archive was part of an underground complex that was for the most part chilly but the archive always became intolerable it was so hot.
His clammy hands grasped the mouse as he selected another menu this time jammers. Slowly he scrolled down the list taking a glance at the descriptions that accompanied each item. Most of the devices had been put to use already and were performing admirably. Interspersed among them were a few crazy ideas dreamed up by some scientist who had a bigger imagination than technical knowledge.
Then his hand froze. What an interesting idea, and feasible to. The equipment was for the most part fairly standard. A few special modifications and some programming and it could work. This device could make the Coalition unstoppable! He transferred the information to a special datacard that if it was plugged into any slot except his own personal datapad it would self-destruct. Clearing all screens he left the monitor to the research assistant and then he stood up and left the sweltering heat of the archive for the comfortable coolness of the hallway. On the way out he nodded to the guard but as usual received no response.