by Yakov Merkin
But this was different, a fact that became clear as soon as he arrived. Every one of the Empire’s key ruling and leading officials, save the emperor himself, was present, and with them, a veritable legion of the emperor’s personal bodyguards. No wonder he had been assured that personal security would not only be unneeded, but seen as an insult to the emperor.
Immediately, he spotted all four members of the emperor’s High Council, Grand Admiral Laiya Serras, Senator Talar Venith, the chairman of the legislature, and two of the oversector lords—which meant that the other four were likely present as well.
Director Revval nodded at the guards standing next to the elevator, and headed into the large, brightly lit meeting room, where all of the assembled officials, which he confirmed included the rest of the oversector lords, and the ministers of finance, infrastructure, civil organization, and agriculture and environment, along with High Marshall Vaeras Illovar, the commander in chief of the Empire’s ground forces, were either conversing, looking at their personal devices, or sampling food from the lavish buffet off to the side.
In fact, the only person who Director Revval would have expected to be here, and wasn’t, was Siras Sevaran, the Bureau Chief of the Imperial Military Intelligence Service.
As Director Revval was certain that there’d be time to engage with these… pleasant people soon enough, he occupied himself with the food and his own device, reviewing the most recent missives sent by his field agents tracking down rebels, and by his officers interrogating a group of recently captured rebel officers. He was sure to be criticized for failing to completely quash the rebellion, so it would be in his best interests to have positive developments to hand.
While he kept himself occupied, however, Director Revval made use of his time-honed investigative skills, and observed his fellow leaders. Of particular note, the grand admiral looked as stressed as one could without being obvious about it, and Oversector Lord Tiraas Vethmar, whose area of jurisdiction was the section of the Empire that bordered the hostile Galactic Alliance, kept glaring at the grand admiral whenever her back was to his as they both moved about the room. As if any more evidence was needed that the war was not going as well as the media claimed.
By the time Bureau Chief Sevaran arrived a few minutes later, Director Revval felt confident that he knew where everyone present stood, even if he had not been explicitly informed what the primary purpose of this conference was.
“Would everyone please be seated?” said Rivos Thaeras, the emperor’s deputy and spokesman, from where he already sat at the head of the table, in front of a large Imperial flag that hung on the wall. “I’m sure everyone here has work that needs doing, so the sooner we conclude proceedings here, the better.”
Without much discussion, everyone found seats at the large, oval table, with the deputy naturally at the head position, while Bureau Chief Sevaran seized the opposite end. Interesting.
Director Revval ended up seated between High Marshall Illovar and Oversector Lord Vethmar, and slipped his device into his pocket before the deputy formally convened the proceedings.
“As we are all well aware, these last few weeks have been a trying time for the Empire, and there will be more challenges ahead. The Empire has never faced a threat such as this in the entirety of its existence, and thus today we, those responsible for its function, are gathered to both assess the situation and to prepare for what is to come.” He cast a glance about the room, waiting to see who would speak first.
It was the grand admiral, who cleared her throat, then spoke. “We have begun taking the fight to the enemy, though we still require more time for the navy’s full might to be marshaled. Just this week, we have made four productive strikes into Alliance space, and have destroyed two border outposts outright while damaging another badly enough that it had to be taken offline for repairs, thus hampering the enemy’s ability to launch attacks against us in addition to damaging their intelligence gathering operations.”
“And how many ships were lost, exactly?” Challenged Oversector Lord Vethmar. “A significant majority of the forces committed to the attacks.”
“And significantly more than our adversary lost in the engagements,” added Bureau Chief Sevaran.
The grand admiral visibly bristled. “Acceptable losses at this stage. We will win this war.”
“And have no fighting forces left by its end,” Severan remarked. “I can say, with certainty, that our enemy does not seem the least bit worried by these attacks, and has far more effectively prepared itself for war than we have. Additionally, my Bureau has learned that this all follows a damaging war—and yet their strength is still formidable. What’s more, they have military leadership that has actually fought in a war and won battles against opposing fleets. What have you or your officer corps faced before this, Grand Admiral?”
“And why is our best admiral being wasted chasing down rebel terrorists in the deepest backwaters of the Empire while an existential threat masses on our doorstep?” Finance Minister Donath Turon cut in. “We need our best, most effective people here.”
“Admiral Sai’var is precisely where he is needed,” the grand admiral said quickly; she knew to whom the minister was referring.
Director Revval resisted the urge to shake his head. It was plainly obvious that Sai’var was being sidelined because there were those who didn’t want an alien being able to take an important, possibly pivotal role in the conflict. And, perhaps, Grand Admiral Serras likely feared for her position, should Sai’var come in and start showing her up.
“While we’re on the topic of the rebels,” said one of the emperor’s advisers, “Director Revval, do you have anything to report?”
Director Revval nodded. “Both on our own and through our cooperation with the military, we have made significant progress at stamping out the rebellion. Just recently, we conducted a raid that resulted in the capture of several rebel officers, who are even as we speak being interrogated for any information that will lead us to their primary bases.” In fact, he had one of his top agents following a very, very good lead that could lead him to the rebels’ main center of operations. But there was no reason to mention that until he had something solid. “On a more troubling note, we have good reason to believe that the public is not completely buying into the official narrative regarding the war, and there is increased—if quiet—talk about the rebels. Support may be growing. However, there is only so much that we can do quickly. Going after every suspected sympathizer or known rebel is like killing the one ant that invades your home. You need to find the colony, or the base, and wipe out the leadership. At the present time, Sai’var has them contained, and scrambling to stay a half step ahead of our forces. Whatever strategy we devise to combat the Galactic Alliance, we must ensure that the rebels cannot use that shift in focus to escalate their activities.”
The conversation shifted on from there, fortunately without any serious jabs getting thrown his way, as numerous other topics which did not overly involve Director Revval were discussed at varying lengths, from how to repurpose civilian infrastructure for war construction, to the general organizing of the war effort, and how to present everything to the public. Throughout it all, Bureau Chief Sevaran was uncharacteristically quiet, apart from a few jabs, while the robotic-voiced Minister of Finance was an even larger and louder presence than he was in his on-air interviews, demanding nothing less than efficiency and effectiveness. The man was certainly making a play of some kind, and Director Revval expected that soon the emperor would have him start investigating what might end up being a new rival to his influence.
After more than an hour, and some tense discussions, and tentative decisions made, talk turned to Sevaran.
“You’ve been quiet, Sevaran,” said High Marshall Illovar. “I hope that doesn’t mean the IMIS has failed to learn anything significant about our new enemies.”
“And I expect that whatever is learned will be shared with all of us,” said Oversector Lord Viis Valat. “This
is not a time for petty squabbling and jockeying for individual gain.”
“Of course I’ll share everything. And yes, we have learned a fair amount. I won’t get into all the details here, as we don’t have the time—don’t worry, I will of course have everything forwarded to your respective offices. However, there is one discovery that requires us to address a major security liability immediately.
“As you no doubt have seen from earlier intelligence reports, we have been cataloguing and studying the various intelligent species that make up this Galactic Alliance. There are many, and they do not all get along, which should work out well for us. However, we recently learned that one race, while holding a fairly low position of influence within the Alliance, poses a great threat to us. The Nihlurans.”
“Nihlurans?” asked the Deputy Thaeras. “Do you mean to say that—”
“Yes. The species is not only present, but just as plentiful in the Galactic Alliance as within the Empire,” Sevaran said, his voice taking on a very serious tone. We also have reason to believe that the enemy was aware of this fact before us.”
“You believe they might have sent Nihlurans to spy on us, as they wouldn’t immediately be recognized as foreign aliens.”
“I don’t just believe, I know. We had a rather bad leak recently, one we only noticed when our database was being accessed by one of our officers far more than it should have been. The officer in question was arrested, and she admitted that she had a drunken interaction with a Nihluran several days ago, though she can’t remember any details. I have no doubt that this was an enemy agent who used this officer to gain access to our files.”
“That’s a serious leak,” Director Revval agreed, “though it seems your officer is more at fault for putting herself in a situation like that. But that aside, I imagine you’ll want my agency to increase surveillance of the world on which this took place, and to begin an investigation.”
“Not exactly,” Sevaran replied, as he glanced toward the emperor’s High Council. “Finding the individual Nihlurans will be too big a challenge to do in a timely manner, and for all we know more will be sent, if they haven’t been already. A more drastic, blanket solution is required. It will be resource-intensive, but short-lived. Put simply, we’ll need to round them all up, at which point we can process each one to be sure that they are, indeed, native to the Empire and not spies. And who knows, we might also catch some rebels in the process.”
Director Revval laughed. “You can’t be serious. First off, we do not know with complete certainty that there are, indeed, Nihluran spies among us sent by the Galactic Alliance. Second, we cannot simply round up and interrogate millions, if not billions, of Imperial citizens! They’re not Revittans, of course, but even the lesser races have rights under the law, a law which my bureau is bound to uphold. And that isn’t even to mention the resources that would be wasted doing this.”
“War is not a pleasant thing, Director, and in order to win this war, we will have to do things that may make us uncomfortable,” Sevaran said.
“This is not a matter of feeling ‘uncomfortable,’ Bureau Chief, it’s simultaneously a moral, practical, and legal issue. Even assuming we can devote the resources necessary to this plan without harming the war effort itself, have you not considered other potential repercussions if we start detaining every Nihluran. Are we going to round up the children and elderly as well, or just all the rest? Either way, were risking throwing many people right into the arms of the rebels. They constantly try and paint us and evil and oppressive, and if we do this we play right into their hands. All to find one or two potential spies. Would it not be more worthwhile to turn this on the enemy, recruit some Nihlurans of our own to spy on the Alliance? From what we do know about this Alliance, power is far less centralized, and a spy might more easily go unnoticed.”
“And where, exactly, would we find any Nihlurans loyal enough to trust with this?” Countered Sevaran.
“Well, I hear Admiral Sai’var has a pet Nihluran he trusts,” said the High Marshall with a smirk and a glance at the still flustered-looking grand admiral.
“I have to agree with the bureau chief,” said Deputy Thaeras. “This is the best course of action we have available right now. Director Revval, I leave it to you to organize and oversee the operation. High Marshal, I trust you can spare some forces to assist in the process if the police and IRSS need additional manpower. I can speak for the emperor on this. We cannot risk any lesser races sabotaging the Empire any more than those in active rebellion already are. Director, how quickly can this operation be set in motion?”
Corras’s head was practically spinning as he processed what he was going to be forced to do, and what it would take. But he was an old spy, and knew well how to maintain composure. “If resource allocation is not an issue, a plan can be drawn up in a matter of days, and ready for action in a week or two. As for actually carrying it out, we can only make estimates, as we cannot know exactly what public reactions will be and whether individual teams will successfully carry it out. I still maintain that this is a poor course of action, for the reasons I have delineated. However, I will of course do what my Empire, and emperor, require.”
While he spoke the words with conviction, Corras Revval only felt more uneasy than ever before. His fellow officials here had, to one degree or another, been both peers and rivals throughout his long career, but now they seemed singularly hostile.
Once the meeting concluded, after what felt like ages, Corras was the first to depart, and returned to his office, where he sat silently at his desk for a long time. There had to be a limit to what he was willing to support and do. Service to the Empire had been his life’s work. Was he really considering throwing all that away and becoming the very type of person he had despised his whole life, a traitor?
No. It was not betraying the Empire, but saving it from itself. Something was terribly wrong, and whether it was the emperor’s doing, or that of someone else within the Empire, the Empire was on a terminal course.
He opened the office intercom. “Lothaer,” he said to his longtime friend and deputy, “I’m going to forward you information pertaining to today’s meeting. We’ve got a lot of planning to do. Also, once we have everything prepared, I’m going to take some time off and leave you in command here. I think my age is finally catching up to me, and these past few months have been very draining. Also my wife will kill me if I don’t take a vacation longer than a weekend very soon.”
“Wouldn’t want to get on her bad side,” Lothaer said with a laugh. “Send everything over, and I’ll get started.”
Corras closed the intercom, sent over the information and orders, then, after taking a long moment to steel himself for what he was about to set in motion, reached down, unlocked a small hidden drawer, an pulled out something he hadn’t personally made use of in many years, a stealth drive. Naturally, IRSS stations and networks had safeguards against such things, but said safeguards meant little when you had complete access to everything.
For the ultimate good of the Empire, to save it from itself, he said to himself, then inserted the drive and set to work.
CHAPTER 9
“I’m well aware that you all have things to do before we head over to our various targets, so I’ll try and make this quick,” Nayasar began, calling the meeting to order. She was back at the front, finally, with Felivas having graciously volunteered to take up the role of Felinaris liaison with the rest of the Alliance, for the time being. What was more, they were about to begin the first stage of the offensive she had pushed for, which doubtless left her assembled officers at least somewhat confused, and there wasn’t anything more they needed to discuss regarding the attacks themselves.
“We are, for the first time in a very long time, flying into battle with the Galactic Alliance as an ally. While this is certainly a positive thing, and I pray that it continues so long as we need to fight wars, I cannot completely trust these people. That is a sentiment I am sure many of you share, to
one degree or another. I am also certain that despite our being part of the Alliance now, there are still plenty of people within it, some fairly prominent, who wish us harm, and battle is a convenient place for someone like me to be ‘tragically’ killed in action, whether by confused friendly fire or by ‘happening’ to end up out of position and surrounded by the enemy. Now, I do not have any hard evidence that something like this is being planned by anyone, but I want to stress to you all, and I want you to stress to your captains that can keep this quiet, that we need to be extra vigilant. Keep eyes on the tactical displays at all times, monitoring the Legion Navy, Talvostan, and other ‘mainstream’ Alliance forces. At the first sign of anything suspicious, contact them and clarify what is going on, make it clear that you noticed it without making any accusations. Omnipresent willing, that will deter any attempts at such actions, but if you still have a bad feeling, let the rest of us, the Tyrannodons, and the Snevans know, on secure channels, so that we can be prepared to either fight or flee if things go sideways.” Nayasar paused for a moment. It felt like she was lifting a weight off her chest, saying this to people besides Felivas and Darkclaw.
“Consider this advisement in place until further notice; if, over the course of this conflict, our allies do prove themselves to be genuinely with us, I may suspend this advisement. Are there any questions?”
The assembled admirals and high captains exchanged some glances, and Nayasar believed she detected some apprehension, but no one said anything.
Once it was clear there were no questions, Nayasar smiled and nodded. “Very good. Dismissed,” she said, saluting, a gesture they returned, “and may the Omnipresent be with us all.”
###
Several hours later, the Alliance fleet dropped out of hyperspace as close as possible to the planet Irovis III, a world not directly on the border with the Alliance, but still considered to be on the outskirts of Imperial space. According to the intelligence gathered by the Nihlurans Ayil, Liya, and Dran, this world, along with its numerous moons, while remote, was an important mining and manufacturing point, a source of both raw materials and manufacturing for the Empire. It wasn’t itself a military facility, nor did it manufacture things specifically for the military, but taking it from them would lead to a significant economic hit, and if the war went longer than expected, having resources while simultaneously denying them to your enemy was always helpful.