HGE - Episode 04 - Rendezvous for Interrogation
The Holy Galactic Empire
Episode 04 - Rendezvous for Interrogation
Captain Brisbin watched as the shuttle settled down onto the landing pad. She had to work to keep her simmering fury from showing on her face. After the Osprey had been the first and only ship to even come close to an effective defence against these raiders, she had been quickly and unceremonious recalled to Fleet HQ. Alison had been given no reason for this recall order. Then a shuttle had hailed giving generic admiralty codes and requesting a rendezvous. She strongly suspected that whatever the reason behind this shuttle, it was only going to make her angrier.
The shuttle's hatch hissed open and a marine Alison didn't recognize strode out. The marine wore standard Dutchy marine uniform. The marks of rank marked her as a Captain. The unusual thing was the lack of any other badges on the uniform. There were no medals of certification or accomplishment. There was no badge of assignment.
Great, black ops. Alison thought to herself as she suppressed a grimace. The Twins Dutchy officially didn't have a black ops unit. Those few marines which were assigned to it simply didn't were any patches.
The marine captain quickly saw that Captain Brisbin was in the small landing bay. She saluted and said, "Captain Brisbin, I realize this is unorthodox, but I have orders to escort you."
Captain Brisbin returned the salut but a part of her wanted to ignore the military courtesy. "And where am I to be escorted to, marine?" A small petty part of Alison enjoyed not using the marine's rank in her address. Maybe that part of her wasn't so small as she would wish.
"I apologize Captain, but I am not authorized to share that with you," the unnamed marine said, "If you would board the shuttle?"
No marine - no matter their rank - had the authority to order any navy officer, let alone a Captain on her own ship. Alison was well within her authority to just ignore this marine. But the shuttle had been using Admiralty credentials. That was the only reason Alison had let the shuttle dock let alone greet it in person. The implication was that this marine's invitation was really the invitation from someone in the Admiralty.
"Very well," Alison said finally, "I need to let my XO know he's in command while I'm away. How long should I tell him that will be?"
"Several hours at least," the marine answered after a short moments consideration.
Alison opened a comm channel to Paul. "What is it Captain?" the XO answered.
"Paul, I'll be off the Osprey for 'several hours at least', you're in command in my absence."
"Yes, ma'am," Paul said after a short hesitation. "Any orders?"
"Just keep her in one piece and continue to Fleet HQ," Alison answered and hung up her comm. "Well let's get going then," she said to the marine. Alison put action to her words and strode onto the shuttle.
The shuttle was a standard Twins Ducal Marine Corp transport shuttle. Each shuttle was capable of transporting a full three dozen marine platoon, their weapons, ammunition, and enough supplies to support them for two weeks. There were other variants whose primary mission was landing marines into active combat zones. This particular shuttle had a grand total of four people on board once the hatch closed behind the marine captain that had so politely asked Alison on board. There was Alison, the marine captain, and the two pilots. And a lot of empty seats. Alison noted the lack of medals and badges on the uniforms of the two pilots. There wasn't even the standard pilots license mark that every pilot was supposed to have.
Alison decided that silence was the best course of action and just sat down in an empty seat. The shuttle lifted off as she was strapping into her seat. There were six rows of six seats with an aisle running down the middle. Alison had selected an aisle seat in the third from the front row. The marine captain who had still not introduced herself sat one row behind her and across the row.
It was almost an hour of silence after the shuttle had left the Osprey that one of the pilots said, "We're approaching the... our destination now."
Alison grimaced slightly at the pilots pause. He had obviously been about to say the name of the ship they were about to rendezvous with but had stopped himself. She apparently wasn't cleared to know that small piece of information either. Alison had been unable to see much of the ship they were rendezvousing with through the shuttle's small portholes.
The two pilots expertly landed the shuttle in the unknown ship's landing bay. As soon as the shuttle settled easily into the landing bay, Alison unstrapped and stood up. The marine captain was already headed towards the hatch at the rear of the shuttle as it began to open. Alison sighed to herself and tried to convince herself that this entire thing wasn't meant to insult her. She was still trying to convince herself of that when she strode out into the brightly lit landing bay and stopped.
The landing bay was not the military landing bay Alison had been expecting. Instead of the cold utilitarian grey metal cavern of a navy ship's landing bay, the walls appeared to be made primarily of wood of all things. She noted that there was what seemed to be gold trim as well. It wasn't that Alison was awestroke by the absurd display of wealth that a wood paneled landing bay of a star ship. As a Countess, she had been aboard royal yachts which all but demanded a more forceful word than 'opulence'. It was just not what she had been expecting.
"Right this way, Countess," the marine captain said in an invitation to follow.
Alison noted the use of her noble title instead of her military rank with a slight narrowing of her eyes. She said nothing but followed the marine captain out of the landing bay and into a hallway. The wood paneling and gold inlays continued in the hallway. Even the floors here were wood. A long rug ran the length of the hallway; it was patterned with wheat grain.
"In here, please," the marine captain said as she held open a door which appeared to be made of wood.
Alison entered the small room. It appeared to be a small library of sorts. Books shelfs lined the walls. Most of the shelves were lined with books of all sizes and colors. The small openings on the shelves that were not filled with books held small statues or in one case a painting of a woman Alison felt like she should recognize but couldn't. The books themselves were of course a display of wealth. The printed word had all but died out replaced with screens. Books were never printed in large quantities. They were nothing more than collectors items anymore. While the edges of the room was defined by the bookshelves, the center of the room was a small coffee table surrounded by four comfy arm chairs of a blue leather.
"If you could please wait in here," the marine captain said.
"Of course," Alison said once again trying to hold back her anger.
"Could I get you anything while you wait?"
"No, thank you," Alison answered after a short hesitation. She had considered answering, "Some answers." but had decided to suppress the urge. The marine captain had told her she was not authorized to tell her anything. She would not ask the captain to disobey her orders. With any luck whoever Alison was supposed to wait for would tell her what was going on.
The marine captain nodded in acknowledgement of the request for water and closed the door, leaving Alison alone in the little shipboard library. With nothing better to do, Alison began looking at the spines of the books along the shelves. There appeared to be a wide selection of books, ranging from several series of novels, to poetry, to histories, to genealogies. There was one section of the bookshelves that appeared to be dedicated to textbooks covering a range of topics; everything from mathematics, to engineering, to physics, to agriculture, to accounting, and law. One of the little statues was a bronze bust of Julius Caesar, the founder of the Empire; another was an abstract statue full of interlocking geometrics shapes; the third was of the thirteen gods sitting upon their thrones. The most prominent among them was Odin, King of the Gods. While the statue was carved from some dark wood Alison was unfamiliar, Odin's eyes were set with small diamonds. As the king of the gods Odin sat upon the largest throne with a crown upon his head. Alison felt that he's expression was of disapproval; she had never been particularly devote. She didn't even consider offering a prayer to the idol before moving on to study the rest of the bookshelf.
Alison had completed her walk around the small libraries shelves and was just contemplating if she should pick out a book to read while she waited, when the door opened. A young man walked in followed by the marine captain from before and marine sergeant. But the marines were no longer wearing the nondescript uniforms which implied black ops. They were wearing the black and silver of imperial marines. The young man they followed into the room was, of course, Lord Jason Falkor, acknowledged heir of the Twins Duchy.
"My Lord," Alison said with a deep bow of her head.
"Countess," Jason said with a shallow bow of his head in acknowledgement. "My apologies for the way you were brought here, but Sarah here insisted."
"Of course," Alison said, "I'll admit the Captain had me thinking this was all some black ops thing with those uniforms."
"Yes, that was the idea," Sarah said with a small smile.
The marines which guarded the Duke and his family were entitled to wear the uniforms of Ducal marines. While in the duties as ducal guards, they were imperial marines, they were also all members of the ducal marine corp.
"First some introductions are in order," Jason said, "This is Captain Thomason and Sargent Arradondo."
Alison nodded in acknowledgement. Alison carefully noted the Lord's reversion to ranks and last names. Sarah was Captain Thomason now.
Jason held out a hand towards the four leather chairs and said, "Let's take a seat before we get started."
Jason sat down first. Alison allowed herself to be subtly maneuvered to the seat crosswise from the young Lord. Captain Thomason sat to the Lord's left, and Sargent Arradondo directly across from him.
"Countess, the Sargent here is going to ask you some questions. Please answer them as best you can," Lord Jason said, "Sargent?"
Alison turned her attention to the Sargent. "I'd like to begin with just asking you to summarize the recent engagement."
"Engagement?" Alison said, her ire flaring, "You mean the unprovoked massacre of probably a few hundred civilians?"
"If that is what you would prefer to describe it, please, proceed." The sargent hadn't changed the tone of his voice or altered his expression.
Alison glanced at Lord Jason. While the sargent was the one asking the questions, it was obviously the Lord who was seeking the answers. She didn't know the young lord very well. She had met him, but he had been barely taller than her waist at the time. Her duties as a naval officer had kept her from visiting the ducal capital very often. That had been part of the point of joining the navy in the first place. This entire day was just...off. This odd interview - no interrogation - was just the latest strange situation. Alison took a deep breath and as calmly and clearly as she could manage, gave her report of the "engagement" to the Sargent. The sargent remained silently, only nodding slightly here or there. There was no indication of what he was thinking behind his mask of calm composure.
"At which point a shuttle with admiralty codes hailed the Osprey and you already know what happened after that," Alison finished.
"You began with mentioning that you were the closest ship to the raiders when you detected their first missile volley. Why were you there?"
Alison considered for a long moment before answering. She flicked her eyes once more towards Lord Jason. He sat in the chair with a rather grim expression on his face. "Several hours before, the Osprey had received a request from Fleet HQ to investigate a sensor ghost. I enformed Fleet HQ that we would be investigating in stealth. I ordered the ship to full stealth and headed straight for Saint Louis Station. I thought that the likeliest target for the raiders."
"Why did you think that?" the sargent asked without emotion. It was as if it was just a passing curiosity to him.
"I believed that the raiders would hit a larger target than the had previously," Alison said. She hesitated just slightly before continuing, "And the request from Fleet HQ made me suspicious. If I had taken the Osprey to investigate that sensor ghost, it would have taken us almost directly away from Saint Louis Station."
As Alison had been answering the question, the sargent had looked down and pulled a screen out of his pants pocket. It was the first time the sargent and had looked away from her since the interrogation had began. Alison didn't have long enough to think how odd it was that the sargent had looked away just when she was given her most important answer, before the sargent asked, "Can you tell me what happened to these individuals?" He flipped the screen around and showed Alison what was on it. It was a video of three corpses. Their skin was a sickly dark grey. They were covered in large red pustules. As she watched one of the pustules burst and a thick black liquid began oozing out and mixing with the slick of blood on the floor. Alison nearly flinched away as one of the corpses began to slowly raise a hand.
"They're alive?" Alison wanted to look away from the horror, but couldn't.
"So you can't tell me anything about these people?" The sargent asked in that same deadpan voice.
"What? No."
The sargent pocketed the screen once more. "So why was the request from Fleet HQ suspicious?"
"What?" Alison was still on the three corpses. No, at least one of them was still alive.
"Why was the request from Fleet HQ suspicious?" the sargent repeated.
"Because," Alison shook herself and looked once more at Lord Jason, before turning back to the sargent to answer. "Because there had been several communications that I found suspicious before each of the other attacks."
"Yes I thought so too," Lord Jason said, "Thank you, sargent, that's enough."
Alison turned to Lord Jason and watched him rub his forehead. It appeared to be a mix of frustration and weariness.
"You'll have to forgive the... interrogation," Lord Jason said, "But I believe as you seem to, that there are traitors within the navy providing opening for these damn raiders. I figured it out while I was leaving an admiralty briefing. All of the admirals sitting in that room have more training and experience than I do, but none of them so much as suggested it as a theory. Which made me instantly suspicious of all of them. And then as I was leaving the navy building and still in the courtyard, there was an assassination attempt on me. I survived by a combination of dumb luck and the courage and competence of Sarah here and the rest of my guard. One of my guards wasn't so lucky." The young lord paused for a moment before continuing. "After that I went to get an experienced opinion from someone who I could still trust. He saw the same thing I did, the same thing you did. It didn't take him long at all. It confirmed the worst of my suspicions. Before we could flesh out a plan of action two things happened. The first was the events you just recounted to the sargent. The second was the video he showed you. We don't know what it is exactly. I've received reports from the local guard captain and a doctor. They say it must be a biological weapon of some sort, but it's like nothing they've ever seen. So far only four people seem to have been affected by whatever it is. A family. Two parents and their two children." The young lord paused once more before he forced himself to continue. "They seem to have...started showing symptoms at approximately the same time. The two parents and their younger daughter were found dead in the home on Edina. The problem is, their elder child, a son, has been away at college. He was found in his dormitory at Falkor University. He reportedly hadn't visited his family in a couple months."
"So how...," Alison didn't know where to begin. Falkor University was on Eden Prairie, a whole other planet than Edina. How could people on two different planets fall sick of some ghastly disease at the same time when separated by the void of space?
"All of this leads to me being rather untrusting at the moment," Jason said, "Thus the rather less than pleasant interrogation."
"I...understand," Alison said, "You thought I might be a little too lucky to have intercepted the raiders."
"Exactly," Lord Jason said, "I'll admit the only reason you were interviewed here instead of in something less comfortable than these chairs, was that my father always spoke highly of you."
The four of them sat quietly for a moment, before Alison asked, "So what happens now? Wait, you said something about asking a more experience opinion. Who did you ask?"
"General Sandar," Lord Jason answered, "His opinion of you was also favourable. But to answer your other question... I'm open to suggestions. General Sandar is, how did he phrase it, 'checking some old fishing spots for scuttlebutt.' He also suggested that I find someone with naval experience as compared to his marine experience. Consider yourself appointed to that role."
"As what, your naval advisor?"
"I suppose you could call it that," Lord Jason said, "I don't know who I can trust, but I have to trust enough competent people to...fight this...conspiracy. As of right now, the list of people I have decided to trust is depressingly short: the people in this room, a few other members of my personal guard who have been with me for a few years, and General Sandar."
"What about... the rest of your family?" Alison asked.
"The Duke is... not well at the moment," Lord Jason answered, "He rarely gets out of bed. I keep catching myself referring to him in the past tense, but..." The young lord swallowed before he continued. "My sister...."
"When asking who could be behind some action, you must ask, 'Who benefits?'" Sargent Arradondo said.
Of course, one of theories that had to be considered was that Thea Falkor, Lord Jason's younger sister was involved somehow. Perhaps she was discontent that her elder brother was about to inherit their father's title.
"I love my sister, but we never exactly got along growing up. In recent years, we have grown even further apart. I went off to study at university and.... A part of me wants to defend her. She would never be apart of something like this. But, a small part of me, at the back of my mind, keeps niggling me with doubt. How well do I know my own sister anymore? And I keep thinking...." He trailed off. His eyes traveled to a particular bookshelf. Alison followed his gaze and saw he was looking towards a shelf full of history books.
"You keep thinking it wouldn't be the first time sibling turned against sibling," Alison completed for him.
The young lord's eyes snapped back to Alison.
"No, it wouldn't," he agreed. He stared into Alison's eyes for a long moment before continuing. Alison thought it looked as if he was trying to push the dark clouds out of his mind. "So I'm gathering a small list of people I know I can trust, a Shadow Council, if you will. As I mentioned before, Countess, you will be my naval advisor. Sargent Arradondo here, worked as a detective before he was recruited into the ducal guard. General Sandar will obviously be my advisor on marine corp and as well as military in general. I trust the Pilot of this... let's be honest and call it a yacht. I trust him enough to take this ship to where I ask and not talk about it."
The pilot of the ducal yacht would obviously be a Guild Pilot. That would come in handy.
"You mentioned a doctor, do you trust them?"
"Yes I suppose this Shadow Council will need someone with a medical background," Jason said, considering, "I suppose I can trust her. I've only spoken to her the one time, but she seemed competent."
"Lady Patricia Anderson, a younger granddaughter daughter of Baron Anderson of the City of Eagan. Studied Medicine at Falkor University as well as three years at the Imperial University. She currently works at the hospital in the City of Eagan." Captain Thomason reported.
"Thank you, Sarah," Lord Jason said, "I think she can be brought into this Shadow Council."
"Not all the way in," Sargent Arradondo interjected.
"Agreed," Captain Thomason said, "She can be useful without knowing...."
"The full depth of the shit hole we all seem to be sinking into?" Lord Jason suggested darkly.
"Very well," Alison said finally, "I need to let my XO know he's in command while I'm away. How long should I tell him that will be?"
"Several hours at least," the marine answered after a short moments consideration.
Alison opened a comm channel to Paul. "What is it Captain?" the XO answered.
"Paul, I'll be off the Osprey for 'several hours at least', you're in command in my absence."
"Yes, ma'am," Paul said after a short hesitation. "Any orders?"
"Just keep her in one piece and continue to Fleet HQ," Alison answered and hung up her comm. "Well let's get going then," she said to the marine. Alison put action to her words and strode onto the shuttle.
The shuttle was a standard Twins Ducal Marine Corp transport shuttle. Each shuttle was capable of transporting a full three dozen marine platoon, their weapons, ammunition, and enough supplies to support them for two weeks. There were other variants whose primary mission was landing marines into active combat zones. This particular shuttle had a grand total of four people on board once the hatch closed behind the marine captain that had so politely asked Alison on board. There was Alison, the marine captain, and the two pilots. And a lot of empty seats. Alison noted the lack of medals and badges on the uniforms of the two pilots. There wasn't even the standard pilots license mark that every pilot was supposed to have.
Alison decided that silence was the best course of action and just sat down in an empty seat. The shuttle lifted off as she was strapping into her seat. There were six rows of six seats with an aisle running down the middle. Alison had selected an aisle seat in the third from the front row. The marine captain who had still not introduced herself sat one row behind her and across the row.
It was almost an hour of silence after the shuttle had left the Osprey that one of the pilots said, "We're approaching the... our destination now."
Alison grimaced slightly at the pilots pause. He had obviously been about to say the name of the ship they were about to rendezvous with but had stopped himself. She apparently wasn't cleared to know that small piece of information either. Alison had been unable to see much of the ship they were rendezvousing with through the shuttle's small portholes.
The two pilots expertly landed the shuttle in the unknown ship's landing bay. As soon as the shuttle settled easily into the landing bay, Alison unstrapped and stood up. The marine captain was already headed towards the hatch at the rear of the shuttle as it began to open. Alison sighed to herself and tried to convince herself that this entire thing wasn't meant to insult her. She was still trying to convince herself of that when she strode out into the brightly lit landing bay and stopped.
The landing bay was not the military landing bay Alison had been expecting. Instead of the cold utilitarian grey metal cavern of a navy ship's landing bay, the walls appeared to be made primarily of wood of all things. She noted that there was what seemed to be gold trim as well. It wasn't that Alison was awestroke by the absurd display of wealth that a wood paneled landing bay of a star ship. As a Countess, she had been aboard royal yachts which all but demanded a more forceful word than 'opulence'. It was just not what she had been expecting.
"Right this way, Countess," the marine captain said in an invitation to follow.
Alison noted the use of her noble title instead of her military rank with a slight narrowing of her eyes. She said nothing but followed the marine captain out of the landing bay and into a hallway. The wood paneling and gold inlays continued in the hallway. Even the floors here were wood. A long rug ran the length of the hallway; it was patterned with wheat grain.
"In here, please," the marine captain said as she held open a door which appeared to be made of wood.
Alison entered the small room. It appeared to be a small library of sorts. Books shelfs lined the walls. Most of the shelves were lined with books of all sizes and colors. The small openings on the shelves that were not filled with books held small statues or in one case a painting of a woman Alison felt like she should recognize but couldn't. The books themselves were of course a display of wealth. The printed word had all but died out replaced with screens. Books were never printed in large quantities. They were nothing more than collectors items anymore. While the edges of the room was defined by the bookshelves, the center of the room was a small coffee table surrounded by four comfy arm chairs of a blue leather.
"If you could please wait in here," the marine captain said.
"Of course," Alison said once again trying to hold back her anger.
"Could I get you anything while you wait?"
"No, thank you," Alison answered after a short hesitation. She had considered answering, "Some answers." but had decided to suppress the urge. The marine captain had told her she was not authorized to tell her anything. She would not ask the captain to disobey her orders. With any luck whoever Alison was supposed to wait for would tell her what was going on.
The marine captain nodded in acknowledgement of the request for water and closed the door, leaving Alison alone in the little shipboard library. With nothing better to do, Alison began looking at the spines of the books along the shelves. There appeared to be a wide selection of books, ranging from several series of novels, to poetry, to histories, to genealogies. There was one section of the bookshelves that appeared to be dedicated to textbooks covering a range of topics; everything from mathematics, to engineering, to physics, to agriculture, to accounting, and law. One of the little statues was a bronze bust of Julius Caesar, the founder of the Empire; another was an abstract statue full of interlocking geometrics shapes; the third was of the thirteen gods sitting upon their thrones. The most prominent among them was Odin, King of the Gods. While the statue was carved from some dark wood Alison was unfamiliar, Odin's eyes were set with small diamonds. As the king of the gods Odin sat upon the largest throne with a crown upon his head. Alison felt that he's expression was of disapproval; she had never been particularly devote. She didn't even consider offering a prayer to the idol before moving on to study the rest of the bookshelf.
Alison had completed her walk around the small libraries shelves and was just contemplating if she should pick out a book to read while she waited, when the door opened. A young man walked in followed by the marine captain from before and marine sergeant. But the marines were no longer wearing the nondescript uniforms which implied black ops. They were wearing the black and silver of imperial marines. The young man they followed into the room was, of course, Lord Jason Falkor, acknowledged heir of the Twins Duchy.
"My Lord," Alison said with a deep bow of her head.
"Countess," Jason said with a shallow bow of his head in acknowledgement. "My apologies for the way you were brought here, but Sarah here insisted."
"Of course," Alison said, "I'll admit the Captain had me thinking this was all some black ops thing with those uniforms."
"Yes, that was the idea," Sarah said with a small smile.
The marines which guarded the Duke and his family were entitled to wear the uniforms of Ducal marines. While in the duties as ducal guards, they were imperial marines, they were also all members of the ducal marine corp.
"First some introductions are in order," Jason said, "This is Captain Thomason and Sargent Arradondo."
Alison nodded in acknowledgement. Alison carefully noted the Lord's reversion to ranks and last names. Sarah was Captain Thomason now.
Jason held out a hand towards the four leather chairs and said, "Let's take a seat before we get started."
Jason sat down first. Alison allowed herself to be subtly maneuvered to the seat crosswise from the young Lord. Captain Thomason sat to the Lord's left, and Sargent Arradondo directly across from him.
"Countess, the Sargent here is going to ask you some questions. Please answer them as best you can," Lord Jason said, "Sargent?"
Alison turned her attention to the Sargent. "I'd like to begin with just asking you to summarize the recent engagement."
"Engagement?" Alison said, her ire flaring, "You mean the unprovoked massacre of probably a few hundred civilians?"
"If that is what you would prefer to describe it, please, proceed." The sargent hadn't changed the tone of his voice or altered his expression.
Alison glanced at Lord Jason. While the sargent was the one asking the questions, it was obviously the Lord who was seeking the answers. She didn't know the young lord very well. She had met him, but he had been barely taller than her waist at the time. Her duties as a naval officer had kept her from visiting the ducal capital very often. That had been part of the point of joining the navy in the first place. This entire day was just...off. This odd interview - no interrogation - was just the latest strange situation. Alison took a deep breath and as calmly and clearly as she could manage, gave her report of the "engagement" to the Sargent. The sargent remained silently, only nodding slightly here or there. There was no indication of what he was thinking behind his mask of calm composure.
"At which point a shuttle with admiralty codes hailed the Osprey and you already know what happened after that," Alison finished.
"You began with mentioning that you were the closest ship to the raiders when you detected their first missile volley. Why were you there?"
Alison considered for a long moment before answering. She flicked her eyes once more towards Lord Jason. He sat in the chair with a rather grim expression on his face. "Several hours before, the Osprey had received a request from Fleet HQ to investigate a sensor ghost. I enformed Fleet HQ that we would be investigating in stealth. I ordered the ship to full stealth and headed straight for Saint Louis Station. I thought that the likeliest target for the raiders."
"Why did you think that?" the sargent asked without emotion. It was as if it was just a passing curiosity to him.
"I believed that the raiders would hit a larger target than the had previously," Alison said. She hesitated just slightly before continuing, "And the request from Fleet HQ made me suspicious. If I had taken the Osprey to investigate that sensor ghost, it would have taken us almost directly away from Saint Louis Station."
As Alison had been answering the question, the sargent had looked down and pulled a screen out of his pants pocket. It was the first time the sargent and had looked away from her since the interrogation had began. Alison didn't have long enough to think how odd it was that the sargent had looked away just when she was given her most important answer, before the sargent asked, "Can you tell me what happened to these individuals?" He flipped the screen around and showed Alison what was on it. It was a video of three corpses. Their skin was a sickly dark grey. They were covered in large red pustules. As she watched one of the pustules burst and a thick black liquid began oozing out and mixing with the slick of blood on the floor. Alison nearly flinched away as one of the corpses began to slowly raise a hand.
"They're alive?" Alison wanted to look away from the horror, but couldn't.
"So you can't tell me anything about these people?" The sargent asked in that same deadpan voice.
"What? No."
The sargent pocketed the screen once more. "So why was the request from Fleet HQ suspicious?"
"What?" Alison was still on the three corpses. No, at least one of them was still alive.
"Why was the request from Fleet HQ suspicious?" the sargent repeated.
"Because," Alison shook herself and looked once more at Lord Jason, before turning back to the sargent to answer. "Because there had been several communications that I found suspicious before each of the other attacks."
"Yes I thought so too," Lord Jason said, "Thank you, sargent, that's enough."
Alison turned to Lord Jason and watched him rub his forehead. It appeared to be a mix of frustration and weariness.
"You'll have to forgive the... interrogation," Lord Jason said, "But I believe as you seem to, that there are traitors within the navy providing opening for these damn raiders. I figured it out while I was leaving an admiralty briefing. All of the admirals sitting in that room have more training and experience than I do, but none of them so much as suggested it as a theory. Which made me instantly suspicious of all of them. And then as I was leaving the navy building and still in the courtyard, there was an assassination attempt on me. I survived by a combination of dumb luck and the courage and competence of Sarah here and the rest of my guard. One of my guards wasn't so lucky." The young lord paused for a moment before continuing. "After that I went to get an experienced opinion from someone who I could still trust. He saw the same thing I did, the same thing you did. It didn't take him long at all. It confirmed the worst of my suspicions. Before we could flesh out a plan of action two things happened. The first was the events you just recounted to the sargent. The second was the video he showed you. We don't know what it is exactly. I've received reports from the local guard captain and a doctor. They say it must be a biological weapon of some sort, but it's like nothing they've ever seen. So far only four people seem to have been affected by whatever it is. A family. Two parents and their two children." The young lord paused once more before he forced himself to continue. "They seem to have...started showing symptoms at approximately the same time. The two parents and their younger daughter were found dead in the home on Edina. The problem is, their elder child, a son, has been away at college. He was found in his dormitory at Falkor University. He reportedly hadn't visited his family in a couple months."
"So how...," Alison didn't know where to begin. Falkor University was on Eden Prairie, a whole other planet than Edina. How could people on two different planets fall sick of some ghastly disease at the same time when separated by the void of space?
"All of this leads to me being rather untrusting at the moment," Jason said, "Thus the rather less than pleasant interrogation."
"I...understand," Alison said, "You thought I might be a little too lucky to have intercepted the raiders."
"Exactly," Lord Jason said, "I'll admit the only reason you were interviewed here instead of in something less comfortable than these chairs, was that my father always spoke highly of you."
The four of them sat quietly for a moment, before Alison asked, "So what happens now? Wait, you said something about asking a more experience opinion. Who did you ask?"
"General Sandar," Lord Jason answered, "His opinion of you was also favourable. But to answer your other question... I'm open to suggestions. General Sandar is, how did he phrase it, 'checking some old fishing spots for scuttlebutt.' He also suggested that I find someone with naval experience as compared to his marine experience. Consider yourself appointed to that role."
"As what, your naval advisor?"
"I suppose you could call it that," Lord Jason said, "I don't know who I can trust, but I have to trust enough competent people to...fight this...conspiracy. As of right now, the list of people I have decided to trust is depressingly short: the people in this room, a few other members of my personal guard who have been with me for a few years, and General Sandar."
"What about... the rest of your family?" Alison asked.
"The Duke is... not well at the moment," Lord Jason answered, "He rarely gets out of bed. I keep catching myself referring to him in the past tense, but..." The young lord swallowed before he continued. "My sister...."
"When asking who could be behind some action, you must ask, 'Who benefits?'" Sargent Arradondo said.
Of course, one of theories that had to be considered was that Thea Falkor, Lord Jason's younger sister was involved somehow. Perhaps she was discontent that her elder brother was about to inherit their father's title.
"I love my sister, but we never exactly got along growing up. In recent years, we have grown even further apart. I went off to study at university and.... A part of me wants to defend her. She would never be apart of something like this. But, a small part of me, at the back of my mind, keeps niggling me with doubt. How well do I know my own sister anymore? And I keep thinking...." He trailed off. His eyes traveled to a particular bookshelf. Alison followed his gaze and saw he was looking towards a shelf full of history books.
"You keep thinking it wouldn't be the first time sibling turned against sibling," Alison completed for him.
The young lord's eyes snapped back to Alison.
"No, it wouldn't," he agreed. He stared into Alison's eyes for a long moment before continuing. Alison thought it looked as if he was trying to push the dark clouds out of his mind. "So I'm gathering a small list of people I know I can trust, a Shadow Council, if you will. As I mentioned before, Countess, you will be my naval advisor. Sargent Arradondo here, worked as a detective before he was recruited into the ducal guard. General Sandar will obviously be my advisor on marine corp and as well as military in general. I trust the Pilot of this... let's be honest and call it a yacht. I trust him enough to take this ship to where I ask and not talk about it."
The pilot of the ducal yacht would obviously be a Guild Pilot. That would come in handy.
"You mentioned a doctor, do you trust them?"
"Yes I suppose this Shadow Council will need someone with a medical background," Jason said, considering, "I suppose I can trust her. I've only spoken to her the one time, but she seemed competent."
"Lady Patricia Anderson, a younger granddaughter daughter of Baron Anderson of the City of Eagan. Studied Medicine at Falkor University as well as three years at the Imperial University. She currently works at the hospital in the City of Eagan." Captain Thomason reported.
"Thank you, Sarah," Lord Jason said, "I think she can be brought into this Shadow Council."
"Not all the way in," Sargent Arradondo interjected.
"Agreed," Captain Thomason said, "She can be useful without knowing...."
"The full depth of the shit hole we all seem to be sinking into?" Lord Jason suggested darkly.
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