In the Shadow of Betrayal (Invited people)

[Salem Norongachi]

The office was quiet. The bay window behind his desk lay open and a night breeze whispered through it, playing across the back of Salem Norongachi's neck as he worked. The table lamp shone a pale yellow across the datapads and computer terminal upon his desk.

Since the reshuffle he had little time to rest, little time to do anything other than the job he had grudgingly taken from Isley Verd. In his hand he held the restructuring of the military, the break down of where his Knights Obsidian fell. No longer would they all be separate pieces, it seemed the powers-that-be wanted to bring them all together into a cohesive military and intelligence force. It was about time, was all he could think as he set the datapad aside.

A whiskey lay to his right, its contents catching the lamp light and making the octagonal glass sparkle and shimmer. He reached for it while his free hand sifted through his paperwork and brought the alcohol to his mouth. A sip was all he could accomplish before the shrill beeping of the com-system built into his desk top made him sigh.

"Yes?" He asked as he picked up the receiver. The voice on the other end was hurried, almost frantic and the words the man spoke made the Lord Commanders eyes narrow in confusion.

"What do you mean he's gone? Gone where?" Was his response, the man spoke quicker still, he sounded as if he had been up half the night and was riding a caffeine high to keep from losing consciousness. Norongachi was directed to look at the data-file they had received from the SpyNet in the last few hours. The monitor on his desk refreshed itself and the file sat there, waiting to be read. He opened the file and began to skim its contents. "What about Feena? Isn't she next in l-" He got to the part about Feena having been tracked to Omega Protectorate space. "Never mind." He growled.

The list went on, no one knew where Isley Verd had gone but the SpyNet had not been lax. It seemed even they had had their suspicions, just as Norongachi had since joining that the smiling veneer of their now vanished leader hid a black soul. It was all assumption, he'd been seen speaking with this man, or placed an order for this thing, it hardly held weight but it confirmed that Salem had made the proper decision with his recent actions against Verd.

"So...who's left to run the place?" The question was met with more than a touch of hesitation from the government employee. "You're telling me...that there were no contingency plans, should Isley and Feena die or otherwise be unable to attend to their tasks? Who the hell thought THAT was a great idea!?" It was a rhetorical question, one he already knew the answer to; A Sith.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Outwardly the building on Bothawui, which served as the hub for the CIS Government, seemed calm. There were no sirens screeching and no indication that this star spanning civilization had just had its heads cut off in a singular evening. Inside, however, was a different matter. As soon as he stepped from the hover-car, that had picked him up from the starport after his long journey from Roon, and moved through the wide glass doors, which slid fluidly aside to grant him passage, he was set upon.

The man had been Isley's aide and he looked like the whole Galaxy had just dropped on his shoulders as he rushed toward Norongachi. He was a head smaller than the raven haired Lord Commander, and his mousy brown hair was beginning to thin. Dark circles had formed under his pale grey eyes and a nervous glint that spoke of him being close to breaking point was all too evident.

"Lord Commander Norongachi," He spoke hurriedly as he fell into step with Salem, who made a beeline for the turbolift in the far right corner of the wide reception area. "Everyone is in an uproar, I've had calls for most of the night. Officials, Viceroys, they all want to speak to Mr Verd or Mrs Mason and-and...I.." He trailed off as they stepped into the lift. Early in the morning most of the building was clear of the low-level staff.

"Be calm." Norongachi said, although his tone spoke more of annoyance at the mans display. "What do you know for definite?" In response the aide handed him a datapad. Salem skimmed it over and then handed it back. There had been no security breach, no intruders detected nor any demands made for Verds life. All that there was, was an empty office, an unanswered line and a sighting of his ship leaving CIS space shortly after Feena Mason had departed for Omega Protectorate.

What could he be worried about, he wondered. What could Feena know that would cause Isley Verd to bug-out so suddenly and without a word to anyone? Whatever it was, it wouldn't be good, and that she'd gone over to the OP could only mean one thing; Whatever she knew, whatever could damage them, they now knew. Couple that with the fact that the separatists known as Liberty Concord had aligned themselves with that same faction and that Concords leader was the former Grand Marshal of the Confederacy....perhaps he would join Verd by taking a well timed vacation...
The doors opened on a carpeted hallway. Doors of soft brown wood were spaced up its length on either side but the doorway at the far end spoke of power, its double doors such a dark wood they were almost black, with silver handles that shone in the overhead lighting and the crest of the CIS above it.

"Is the council inside?" He asked as his boots made not a whisper on the carpet. The mans steps seemed to falter at that and Norongachi half turned and let his eyes close as realization struck. "Verd...dissolved the council before he left..." In truth there had been so much confusion in the restructure that it had slipped his mind.

"Y-yes sir..." The aide responded.

"I take it the Viceroys, a few generals and an admiral or two are in there?" Salem asked with a motion of his head to the door. The man nodded, pale, whatever hell he'd suffered on the other side of that door Salem Norongachi now had to walk into willingly. Green eyes became hard, that cold mindset and air of utter authority seeming to slip over him like a sheath. Hands gripped the door handles and then he swung them open.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

They had been yelling at one another for half an hour, in that time there had been more intelligence reports, more tension added to the mix as it appeared the Protectorate were building up for something big. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something big would come smashing down on their collective heads at some point in the not so distance future.

"GENTLEMEN!" He roared to cut through the din at the long oak conference table. There were two generals, an admiral, their intelligence liaison officer, a viceroy from one of the border worlds and the aide who was very thankful not to be in amongst the fray. The yelling became a murmur and then finally silence fell between them. Norongachi let his eyes flick between them, all arranged down the length of the table. "Verd is gone, Feena is gone but that doesnt mean we become a band of brainless children pointing fingers and crying for our mothers, does it?" He didn't wait for a response. "We have a government to run, security protocols that should have been updated as soon as our former Grand Marshal swanned off in a huff, but no...we didn't. Why You ask? Because as of right now our entire military is compromised. With Fenna Mason no doubt being debriefed as we speak and Calico Tal'Verda having been with the Protectorate for months now, we must assume that every code, every encrypted channel, every defense and fleet formation is now in the hands of a force more than capable of ending us." He took a moment to let that sink in.

"Then," It was one of the Generals, Yarik...Salem believed his name was. "What do you suggest, Lord Commander?" They had initially thrown the 'Who put you in charge?' question at him, a look was all it had taken to silence them.

"We mitigate the potential damage, we address and reassess what we can in whatever time they are willing to give us." Norongachi responded. "In the state of limbo our government is currently in, it will fall to us to safe guard the nation and its people. Whatever their reasons, whatever Feena or Calico may have told them, they are Isley Verds sins. Not ours, not the men, women and children we have each sworn to protect. We must move quickly and decisively. Ideas, thoughts, suggestions. You have all worked and served the CIS longer than I. Go." And they went, all of them now on the same page with a dedicated goal.

They had to reinforce key worlds, draw fleets and soldiers away from the far flung and strategically unimportant, less inhabited, worlds on the fringes of their territory . Instead they would focus upon what gave them the teeth and the claws that would see them through the coming storm their encryption networks would be changed, the Liaison from SpyNet assured each of them. The Admirals spoke of concentrating ships, changing fleet compositions and assuring they were highly vigilant of future incursions. The Generals were both in agreement that they too, had to pull forces back that Isley had ordered them to place on worlds around what they termed as 'Black Sun' territory. The planets themselves bore no strategic importance, however Verd was hell bent upon containing or crushing the fledgling criminal organization before it had even begun.

Norongachi only spoke with acceptance or dismissal, the rest of the time he listened to these seasoned individuals. They would be ready, they had to be ready. Regardless, every death, every world scorched by war, fell squarely upon the sins of their former Leader. Stopping that from happening, was his burden.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

A further two days passed and Salem spent his sleepless nights in constant contact with all divisions in the CIS. New encryption protocols were in place, the Army and Navy had begun to readdress their deployments. Worlds deemed of high value were built up as quickly as they could manage, while others were left a token force, meant for system patrols such as pirates or criminals and nothing more. Every major asset they had was in constant ready status, they had no idea where the hammer stroke would fall, or how hard it would be.

He sighed and poured himself another drink, sitting behind a borrowed desk in an invaded office just off the boardroom. He read the reports, the updates, every time he finished one, another would appear and so it went for hours and hours. Things were coming together but if he had his way it would be an instant process, such was life he thought. Thankfully, once they had all began coordinating together in a manner the CIS under Isley Verd had never known, the actions were well thought out. The most vulnerable worlds, with the greatest military importance, were given higher priority for ships and troops. The SpyNet had proposed a step up in counter-intelligence operations, to which they had all agreed was prudent.

It had just gone 3am and the last report of the day slipped into his memory. More would follow as soon as the sun peaked over the horizon, it was the not knowing when that made this all the more nerve wracking. He half expected to look out of the window from the forty-something floor of the Government building and see an invasion fleet blotting out the stars above Bothawui. Still, he told himself, you've managed to fix some of the issues at least.

The Lord Commander accepted that as an accomplishment, took a drink from his glass, and then settled in for tomorrow and whatever the future held for the Confederacy of Independent Systems.