Private Sharpshooter

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Luca Thayren
Location: Lianna City, Lianna

The New Imperial Security Bureau was on a recruitment drive, and so the name Luca Thayren had come up. After the NISB had drafted up a list of candidates for re-assignment to the Bureau Alicia had reviewed the list extensively and the name Thayren had stood out. He was currently retired from active duty, and given his age, it was understandable why. The military was a young man's game, and while the saying of, "Fear an old man still standing in a young man's man," gave credence to Thayren's capabilities it still did not ignore the reality that this was a guy who was nearing his sixties. Age crept up to the best of us, and so that gave him limitations that he had not possessed in his younger days.

But where her other contemporises viewed Thayren as too old for the job Alicia saw a use for him in the Bureau that would require a man of his expertise. It was written down in the report made about Thayren that he was a Sharpshooter. The man possessed a key eye for the target, and hardly ever missed. Beyond that he had served a good career in the Imperial Remnants that had banded together over the decades before the most recent ones formed the now reigning Empire of the Lost. He was a patriot- at least on paper- and that gave him strings that could be pulled.

So, Alicia had sent out feelers to acquire the mans services, and a meeting had been arranged in Lianna City. The venue was a quant cafe deep within the city limits of the ecumenopolis, where the traffic was at it's biggest. The throngs of people coming or going about their business were at the biggest in mass, at a time of the day where it was the busiest in the city, and that suited Alicia just fine. Away from the offices of the NISB and their prying eyes Alicia knew that this was one of the rare spots in the city at a specific time of day where the mass surveillance currently being undertaken by the Bureau would be at it's most difficult to listen into.

You see the Staff Director of the NISB had their own agenda that did not necessarily fall in line with the politicks nor the domestic or foreign agendas of the powers that be. So bringing Thayren into the organisation quietly, to perform acts that would be in the name of the NISB, but not necessarily on their behalf, was on the agenda of the day. Flanked by two Stormtroopers Alicia sat at a booth found on a balcony overlooking the city below. A light rain assaulted the canopy, meaning that most of the customers in the cafe were sat or stood inside, but not Director Drey. With a white Umbrella opened just above her head Alicia sat while she was concealed in it's shade, which acted as a means to protect her from the light drizzle, and the cameras of the city.

She knew where to sit, and where to set up a meeting such as this one, because as the designer of the Domestic Surveillance for Domestic Threats program, Alicia knew precisely where the Bureau would be looking and listening. With all the noise around them, and the location of the meeting, her organisation would find it difficult to learn about anything in this meeting, and that was just fine with Alicia.

 

[Luca Thayren]

Location: Lianna
Tags: Alicia Drey ​

Luca let out a sigh.

Having completed his tour of miliary service years prior he had assumed he was done with the battlefield and had settled into a comfortable retirement drinking wine. However, having been getting exceptionally bored with retired life he had actually unretired, choosing to return and head up an Imperial Fleet on behalf of the Empire of the Lost.

Retirement had never suited the man. The military and the battlefield was a place you found younger heads for sure, those with older heads tended to be in offices dishing out orders over the holocommunicators. Luca had established that the next best thing was to be dishing out orders from the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Didn't have to get involved in the action but still got to play a part.

Now he was being summed for a meeting on Lianna. It had been a while since he had returned to the planet that served as the capital of the Empire and he was excited to be returning, it just disappointed him that it was for a meeting. He was almost certain he would be shipped back out to some unknown place in galaxy and wouldn't actually get to spend time upon Lianna.

Noting the specificness of the request for his presence, Luca Thayren made for the cafe that had been selected for their meeting. The invitation had provided a very specific time to meet at the coffee shop and Thayren wasn't one to be late. His host had chosen a time where traffic was busiest and thus he had made a point of setting out early just to prove a point.

A gentle rain blew in the wind. It wasn't quite enough to leave the man soaking wet, but it was enough to be a mild annoyance. He wanted to make for the cafe, get in the warm and dry and get his hands on a cup of caf'. He would have preferred something stronger but technically he was on duty and it was too early to be drinking anything other than caf'.

Making his way into the coffee shop, he noted two stormtroopers stood out on a balcony. They both glanced at him and he assumed that he was meant to be going that way. He took the time to order himself a cup of hot caf' before making his way out into the balcony to meet the person whom had requested his presence, and establish why his presence had been requested.

"To what do I owe the pleasure"

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Luca Thayren

"Captain," Alicia said in acknowledge. Lifting the Umbrella slightly to reveal her face (and the sleek white Imperial Uniform she wore) Director Drey summarized Captain Thayren with a curious look. After an uncomfortable few seconds Alicia averted her gaze from Thayren to the guards and said: "Secure the exit. I want to speak with the Captain alone."

"Yes ma'am," replied the distort voice behind one of the Stormtroopers visors. Alicia watched as her men forced the other customers on the balcony to exit, and then took positions either side of the exit. "Captain Thayren," Alicia said thoughtfully as she reached a hand towards the stack of flimsi and gestured towards it for the Captain to take. "My name is Director Drey. I am the new head of the New Imperial Security Bureau. New orders have been drafted from the top and your reassignment to the Bureau has been arranged. As of today you will be working closely alongside myself and will be acting in numerous roles that I require from you. Your official designation in the organisation has named you as a Field Agent but this is just a cover to make your work with me admissible should official inquiries are launched to investigate our work together."

"After our meeting today I will be giving you a month of paid leave from your work in the Empire. Please use this time to gather your personal belongings and sort out any arrangements that you had before the end of the month. The work that we will be doing together will be dangerous and the places it will take us too will not be pleasant. I will try to answer any questions you may have for me today."

 

[Luca Thayren]

Location: Lianna
Tags: Alicia Drey ​

"I'll pause you there director"

Luca glared at the woman softly. The uniform should have given away her rank so perhaps he was getting slow in his old age but it took until she stated her rank for him to realise who she was. He'd heard rumblings that the New Imperial Security Bureau had been having a reshuffle and it was all but confirmed now that he was face to face with the new director.

"Why was I not consulted about this directive to reassign myself? he started. "I have a crew and ship to look after, director. What will happen with those?" he continued. He had grown quite comfortable heading up a fleet, the thought of the New Imperial Security Bureau didn't much interest him. It sounded like too much of a desk job for him.

"From what you're saying, you're roping me into treason" he started again, eyes dancing around. She had already commanded that the doors be secured, so he wasn't concerned about being caught, but she was definitely suggesting something that didn't sound legitimate. "What does this role even entail director? I feel like you're telling me very little whilst demoting me"

His eyes trained on her eventually. "I feel like you owe me a lot of explaining, Director"

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Luca Thayren

Alicia drew a packet of cigarettes from her chest pocket as Thayren raised his objection followed by his questions. Navigating the difficult task of holding the Umbrella up while lighting up the stick was almost tedious but she got there in the end, and as she placed the lighter and packet onto the table between both of them, Alicia exhaled smoke away from the Captain as she spoke.

"Consultation wasn't required, Captain Thayren," Alicia explained as she smoked. "Orders are given and men like you obey. This is how this works. The Empire and it's Imperium requires you to fulfil these new obligations. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant, isn't it? You have been called to help secure the Empire and provide it with the security that it requires. This is what the Bureau does and in a month we will begin work that will bring security and order to these lands."

Alicia raised the cigarette back up to her mouth and took another drag. The tendrils of smoke exhaled through her nose and the slit of her mouth as she placed the stick into an ashtray on the table. She coughed into her fist and readjusted herself into a more comfortable position as they continued to speak.

"Your ship and crew will be reassigned to another officer. The sentimentality you share with them is inconsequential next to the work that we will be performing together. What is the work, you ask? It sounds treasonous, does it?" The questions were rhetorical and designed to cause doubt in Thayren. She eyed him while the smoke of her cigarette continued to rise between them. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, Thayren. The work that I perform is done with the blessing and authority of the Emperor himself. There isn't anything that I do that they do not know about, and if they do not know about it then it is because it wasn't important enough for them to know."

Alicia drummed her things in thought. What was she tell this man in the here and now? Did she rely on his patriotism to get him on board? Would it be enough, or did she have to convince him fully to the bigger picture at play?

"Since the Empire of the Lost was formed we have become aware of a wide array of individuals, groups and organisations who threaten us," Alicia explained carefully. She took the cigarette back into her fingers and took a drag before placing it back into the ashtray. "I was recruited by the Empire to become the Staff Director of the Bureau because of the directives that I came with to the Emperor and his Moffs. My proposal was accepted and the work is set to begin in earnest. The work is about influencing and turning these people against one another. If they are too busy fighting each other then they will not target us."