Con-Red: Recourse
Page 38
“Yes, the whole situation is unusual, but one can never truly predict what these psychopaths do. They are criminals and only wish to sow despair within the UPF in order to achieve their goals. There is some preliminary evidence to suggest that the Technologist have had a hand in planning and or executing these attacks. My intelligence staff has informed me of increased chatter coming from EnTec space aimed at some a few different terrorist groups operating just outside the UPF.” Admiral Linn lied and paused for a second, his eyes drawn to the large display case on the other side of the room where his collection of various old artifacts lay.
There, in the very center, was a large sideways laying hourglass shaped object. It was his most prized possession and was one of a few pieces he had kept for himself from the Odyssia archeological dig site, before it was completely destroyed. For reasons beyond his explanation he had been pulled towards those artifacts. His mind always turned towards them even while he was away. It was like he was linked with them in some way. From the moment they had been showcased to the admiral after their excavation he knew he had to have them for his collection. It had also been from that moment on that his aspiration to become the sole leader of the Federation took over. Never before had his drive for such forced advancement been so forthcoming. Over the years of holding on to those artifacts that need only grew, until plans were actually laid down inside his circle of trusted men and women.
“This is the first time I am hearing of this Xwai. None of the other agencies have gotten wind of any sort of communications between these different groups. I will have to look into this. We have to tread carefully if this is in fact true.”
“We must all be ever vigilant should such violence spill over into the rest of the Federation. Ever since my military budget was reduced ten years ago, our fighting and defensive capability has declined considerably. No longer are we able to keep our fleet at past levels. Every year we retire many more ships than we build, it is forcing us to keep our aging vessels much longer than their ended lifespans. There is no way to cover the entirety of the space we control with the number of ships we now have.
“With new evidence of increasing attacks and estimates that more are being planned we really need to increase our ship levels to cover the sectors better. I formally request an increase to our shipbuilding and operations budget.”
“You know there is no way I can do that Admiral,” Premier Ostenberg shook her head and looked down at the man, “this conversation has been had before. The Federation can no longer afford such fleet sizes, other civilian programs would be in jeopardy. There is only a certain number of credits to go around. Perhaps you can better manage the vessels you now have at your disposal. We can invest into intelligence gathering operations to detect attacks before they happen.”
The Admiral huffed at that suggestion, “Intelligence can’t escort convoys or protect civilian worlds from getting attacked. We need physical assets to assert our presence in each sector. At least give us a forward on part of our next year’s budget so that we can reinstate some of our reserve ships.”
“That’s actually an interesting idea,” Ariel said after a moment’s thought, “I believe we can make that happen for you, at least on a temporary manner. How long will it take you to get them out of the reserves and man them?”
Xwai was actually surprised at her agreement to the idea, “We can have the ships ready within two to three days, manned fully by our naval reserve personnel.”
A red intercom light appeared on his desk at the moment and indicated that one of his subordinates had an urgent message for him. “Very well, Admiral Lin,” Ariel said, “you may start readying those ships. I will take care of the Senate for you and get your funding. With that out of the way, we still need to discuss your plans for securing our trade routes against further pirate raids.”
“Excuse me a moment, there is an urgent message coming through,” he put himself on mute so the Premier would not hear and opened a channel to the assistance sitting outside his office. “Yes lieutenant what is?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you sir, but we just received word that the Darma Horizon Refinery in Cetus has been attacked and destroyed by unknown forces. The 7th Fleet also lost the Delass, Allison, and Wenzhou in the engagement. The Regal CBG was in the vicinity to assist, but did not get there in time. They are collecting evidence and sifting through the wreckage as we speak. So far eight survivors have been recovered from the destroyed ships. A detailed report has been forwarded to your workstation Admiral.”
This came completely unexpected for Xwai and actually caused him to grow silent for a moment to process the information. Since the assault of Frontiera and Kapricara, this news was the first to actually take him by surprise. The report popped up in front of him and he tapped it quickly in order to have it open. Inside the message was an actual written report compiled by his staff from communiques by Admiral Singh of the Regal as well as military intelligence and Darma Corporation’s own reports. Attached to it were also video recordings taken of the facility and the destroyed defense ships by the Carrier Group’s own craft. One of these videos showed a rescue team, surrounded by an environmental containment field, cutting through a large bulkhead within a large section of floating debris. Within moments he watched them enter through the hole they had cut and pull out a pair of naval crew members on stretchers into the rear of a waiting shuttle.
He looked away from the image, sensing an opportunity had just presented itself to him, and back up at Ariel who was still standing there waiting for him. “Sorry about that Mrs. Premier. I just learned that one of our Darmatium refining facilities has been destroyed. I’m relaying the report to you now. Initial estimates are putting the death toll at over five hundred. We shall have to talk later. I have to take care of this and try to find out exactly what happened. I suggest you pass the information along to your people as well. I have a feeling that we shall need those reserve ships sooner rather than later.”
Ariel’s face instantly changed to one of disbelief as she glanced down at her own monitor to go over the report he had just transmitted. “Of course Admiral, I completely understand. We have to collaborate in our efforts to find those responsible for this. Get those reserve ships operational. Good luck Admiral and my full condolences to the men and women that lost their lives today.”
With that final remark her holographic image disappeared and from out of nowhere a thin smile formed across his lips. This attack was what he had been waiting for to help force the legislative and executive branches hand to give him more freedom. The Darma Horizon destruction was something they could not ignore. It was not some minor annoyance in out flung regions of the UPF like the occasional pirate raid. This was a high casualty event against a valuable, not easily replaceable, asset in the middle of Federation control space. There would be outrage among ordinary civilians. Everyone living inside the Federation would be calling for those responsible to brought to justice no matter the costs. Xwai would be able to use this single event to turn more people onto his way of thinking. Citizens will finally realize that the current state of the military was far less than what was needed to adequately protect each and every sector. In turn making the government look bad once again and proving to all that Admiral Linn had been right in always fighting for an increase in the defense budget.
He reached over and activated a tactical map of the United Planets Federation. The large slowly spinning map flickered to life in the same place where the premier had stood moments ago. It started out as a map of the entire Milky Way galaxy before a glowing yellow dot appeared in the Orion-Cygnus Arm between the Sagittarius and Perseus Arms of the spiral galaxy. This dot and the yellow border surrounding it actually represented the Sol Sector and Earth within it which happened to be the seat of government for the whole Federation.
As the map stabilized it began to zoom in towards the designated sector and expanded it into the center of the holographic display. Encircling the Sol Sector began to appear other sectors with each hav
ing a different color. He eyed the one in blue directly attached to the border of Sol and knew it represented the Hydra Sector in which a single planet was now being displayed. That planet was the frozen, lifeless planet of Athenia, the command headquarters of the whole of the Federation military. Stretching out beneath the surface of this dead world was the sprawling complex of the Bureau of Defense. It was deep inside this structure that the Admiral now sat and coordinated the deployment of the various fleets scattered throughout the UPF.
Each of these fleets was shown on the map inside their respective sectors with small icons. Other icon appeared as well, these ones were indicating different reports of pirate and terrorist activities, such as attacks, raids, and even just sightings. In that moment the map updated itself within the Cetus Sector to show the newly reported Darma Horizon assault. Looking around the edges of Federation control space he could see other regions controlled by different governments both friendly and unfriendly to the Federation. Another Raid symbol appeared at a different sector, this one even further from Sol along almost the very edge of Federation space on this side of the galaxy. This sector was called Scorpio and through it ran a long curved line that stretched all the way from Aquarius and a few other Inner sectors all the way to the Fringe Sector. The Parlovski Trade Route, represented by this line, was one of the two main arteries through which goods flowed between the distant Fringe Sector and the rest of the Federation. It was heavily utilized in the shipment of military supplies to systems without Gate access, which happened to be the majority within these far-flung regions. Xwai knew all about this latest attack and had purposefully kept it from reaching other peoples ears.
Finally his eyes focused on the Fringe Sector, which bordered Scorpio, where two planets were now highlighted in red to mark them as under attack by unknown forces. Both planets also had Naval Task Force markings floating above them to represent the forces dispatched into those areas. He had a feeling he would never hear from any of those ships again. That would have bothered him considerably years ago had he not changed into the man he now was, but today he viewed their loss only as a means to an end.
A single ring called out to him while he studied the large map and demanded his attention. “Holo coming through for you, sir. A Mr. Skyler,” said his assistant through the office speakers.
“Very well, transfer him to my terminal,” Admiral Lin ordered after a momentary pause of contemplation.
When the transmission showed on his display he accepted it. Xwai watched the large floating image of the Federation disappear quickly and get replaced with that of a man in a goldish brown suit. He was seated in a large, expensive looking, black chair with a beautiful view of a snowcapped mountain range behind him through a massive curved window. Redic Skyler’s long, thick, shoulder length dark brown hair and youthful face masked his true age by decades. Admiral Lin had known him for over fifty years now, ever since they had cooperated on the Odyssia operation together. Back then Redic had been just a young up and coming power player within the United Planets Federation. He had just taken over the leadership role within RedSky Enterprises from his recently deceased father, Redmond Skyler.
Everyone at that time had laughed at the notion of the twenty something year old Redic taking over a corporation of such size and competing with the other already well-established larger companies. Unlike most others, however, Admiral Lin, then only a Sector Commander, had felt something special in the man after a long conversation with him. They had talked at great length all those years ago about forming a relationship together between the RedSky and the military. Redic’s father had only started applying for military contacts, but Redic had greatly expanded that effort with new ideas and innovations. With Xwai’s lobbying on his regard, the BoD had finally backed a series of contracts with RedSky Enterprises for both ships and ground instillation construction projects. One of these projects was the archeological habitat on Odyssia. In the end the company was even allowed to take part in the exploration mission on the planet due to its extensive experience in surveying other planets throughout the galaxy.
Since then the company and the defense establishment had grown very close. RedSky Enterprises had grown into one of the largest companies inside the Federation and now manufactured over fifty percent of the military’s hardware. It has also expanded into many other civilian sectors over that period of time. At that thought Admiral Lin now gave a little smirk, remembering that only a few days ago Redic had brought the TransGalactic Corporation into its sphere of assets. This ensured that the company would have an even more defined roll within the UPF, by effectively controlling the most widely used mechanism of travel between different systems and sectors. There were a few other companies within the UPF that licensed part of TransGalactic’s patented tunnel drive technology, but they were quite small and made minimal market share.
“Redic, my friend, how may I help you?” Xwai finally said after the quick trip down memory lane, somewhat envying the other man’s youthful demeanor.
As usual Redic let out a big bright smile, “Xwai, it has been far too long. How have you been?”
“Yes it sure has. It’s been a rather busy time for the BoD,” he admitted, allowing himself a moment of truth and weakness with his friend, “there has been a lot of hostile activity against the Federation recently and we are still playing catch up in order to find those responsible. I am well, though, my friend, perhaps a bit tired.”
“I’m sorry to hear, friend. I would be tired if I were in your position as well. Loss of the Darma facility in Cetus is no small blow to the Federation,” Redic said and caused Xwai to perk up slightly. He fought the urge to deny the event, as it had not yet been revealed to the public. The admiral gave his friend leniency because he was fully aware of Redic’s information network. RedSky seemed to have an intelligence division of its own and appeared to always know the same information as the BoD.
“I also know there have been multiple attacks throughout the other sectors, both raids and anti-government attacks. I’m sure the MIS and FID will find those responsible and bring them to justice,” Redic continued after giving the admiral a little time to process the fact that he knew all about these attacks and the one on Chu-Tsao, “RedSky interests have also been attacked recently. We managed to capture some of the criminals alive and have since turned them over to FID. It seems to me like there is an abnormal amount of attacks within the past three weeks. How does the situation look from your perspective?”
“The defense bureau has seen an increase as well. At the moment we don’t have a good explanation as to why there has been an increase in such activity. There are a number of leads that we are following up on, perhaps they will yield something soon. I hope the raids on your company were not too damaging.”
Redic smiled a little and nodded in acceptance of Xwai’s concern, “they were not very effective, but thank you for your concern. We were very fortunate in only suffered some injured crew members. It could have been much worse.
“The real reason I contacted you is to find out what’s going on within the Fringe Sector. I know there is something amiss going on at Frontiera and Kapricara and would like to hear if you know anything about it. You should know that we also lost contact with one of our smaller mining and production facilities on Bremagard yesterday. I have rerouted one of our ships to the system to investigate, but if you have any assets in the area, I would greatly appreciate any aid you can offer.”
Xwai paused at this new information, wondering instantly if the infiltration could be spreading into other systems. “I’m sorry to hear about your colony. I will have to check about any resources I have in the area. If we have ships nearby I will dispatch whatever I can to locate your people. As for the other worlds, they should be back in contact with the rest of the Federation soon. We had some hostile actions against our relay nods around those systems and both suffered a series of terrorist attacks that knocked them offline. The radiation storm within Frontiera is not helping either
, but should subside soon.”
“That’s what the press is saying my friend, though, we both know that is not the case,” the other man remarked and leaned forward in his chair, his face now more serious, “I would like the truth as you know it. You owe me that much Xwai, after all these years. I only wish to know what is happening to my employees, everything you tell me stays between us. You know I’d never betray your confidence.”
“Alright Redic,” he breathed out and rubbed his somewhat dry eyes, knowing the man would never stop in his quest to find the answers, “you did hear this from me, but in truth we have no idea what is happening on those planets. We simply lost contact with them suddenly. There were no distress calls or anything. I have dispatched fleets to investigate, however. Once I hear anything more, I will let you know. How does that sound?”
“I see,” Redic slowly sighed and leaned back into his chair in thought for a moment, “do you think we could be in a state of war and under invasion?”
“We can’t rule it out, but it is a bit premature to go down that path. If we are, I think we will be ready to handle the threat. The premier just authorized us to active some of our reserve ships, so they would be able to help in the effort should they be necessary. I’m it is nothing that serious, though.”
“You don’t think it could be…Them, do you Xwai?” Redic said softly, with regret hidden in his voice, “after what we did I wouldn’t blame them.”
“Of course I don’t think it’s Them. After all this time? Why now?” the admiral almost shouted back in defiance, “we did nothing wrong to them. We were only exploring. They can’t hold us accountable for being curious about them when we thought none of them survived. For all we know They are no more. We have no evidence it was even them who attacked us fifty years ago.”
“I concede in that regard, but I still have my gut feelings on the matter. Very well Xwai, please get back to me as soon as you know anything. I sincerely hope it is nothing,” Redic finally said and leaned over to turn off the feed, “be well old friend.”