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The Queen - PKPower - 02-25-2018
Flagship Ostara
Somewhere in the walker nebula
02/25/825
Somewhere in the walker nebula
02/25/825
It has only been a couple of weeks since Ernst Fischer arrived on the Ostara, but he already could not wait to leave the ship again. It was crowded, filthy, smelly and a whole bunch of other adjectives describing things Ernst did not appreciate. Exiting his meditative state he stood up from his bed in the small room he was residing in for the time of his stay. The ceiling was just barely high enough for him not to hit his head and he could touch both of the opposing walls when he stretched out his arms. Not that he would want to touch the walls. The few things the room contained were positioned in a meticulous order, that could be described as obsessive, or compulsive.
Ernst put his bed back in order with the precision of a surgeon, until there was not a single fold left in the covers. They still smelled like like their previous owner, a woman with a strong perfume, but at least they were pleasing to look at. He logged back into the neural net and was instantly notified about a transmission he missed two minutes ago. To his surprise the sender of the transmission was no other than Generalministerin Nika Haupt. She wanted to talk to him in her private quarters asap. While this invitation might sound strange in a different context, her quarters doubled as her office in this case.
Fischer put on his thick-rimmed glasses, but on his beige trenchcoat and took one last look at himself in the oxidized mirror. The amount of grey hairs on his head must have doubled since he arrived on the Ostara and the skin around his mouth and his chin was irritated from shaving without water for days. Overall he looked presentable enough. He left his quarters and stepped into the humid hallway.
The distance to the quarters of Nika Haupt was not too long, but just long enough to make lesser men a little nervous. It was also required to go up one floor, which gave the positioning of the room a certain sense of importance. After passing one of the men guarding the room of the Generalministerin, Fischer stood in front of a blue door. Knocking on the door firmly some of the paint chipped off, revealing that it must have been painted in at least three different colors before it was blue.
“This is Fischer. I’m here because of your transmission.”
RE: The Queen - Char Aznable - 02-26-2018
"Come in!", the Minister's voice sounded from beyond the dark blue door, and when the man stepped in, he was greeted by dim, blue-green lighting. The few light sources in the room were stuffed behind curtains, with the only real, unobstructed light coming from the desk situated directly in front of him, a holographic display currently showing a monochrome version of the Frühlingswache's logo. It was confusing - everyone that paid attention to ship plans would know that the minister did not only live in one of the few two-room quarters, but also was supposed to have a window. None of that was currently visible, though, giving the relatively large room a claustrophobic, cold feel.
Behind the desk sat the Minister herself, clad in her signature black catsuit and mustering Fischer with an icy, deep glare. Her voice had sounded coarse, although much less so than the past few weeks. With the current lighting in the room, the reflection of light in her augmented eyes made it seem like they shimmered slightly, giving her a slightly ghostly appearance. The fact that the room was a full three degrees colder than the rest of the ship didn't help with that, either.
Annika had spent the day working and organizing, quietly guiding the few hundred men aboard the vessel from safe haven to safe haven, always on the move and never actually mooring, with each and every supply brought in via their own, trusted freighter pilots. Not even the hessians, the group whose space they currently inhabited, knew exactly where the ship was. Today, there had been at least three incidents of space sickness, and the rumour mill was worrying her. Well, not exactly worrying. But she needed a report on it, and since Michael Wolf, her right-hand man, was currently on a mission to Bautzen, so she wanted the report directly from the man responsible.
"The rumours are circulating. I want to know what people are talking about aboard my ship, Kommissarkapitän. And also how they found out that we had contact with the Rose. So, Report."
She didn't look up much, her eyes beginning to focus on the datapad in front of her. A clear sign of her limited time - People that got called to her office rarely got her to talk more than five sentences, let alone acknowledge their existence. She intentionally did that, however. That way, the competition between them weeded out the weak, a system that had served her well the past few months. She let the quiet after her request linger, only interrupted by the tapping on her pad, while the door behind Fischer closed. Sure, it wasn't locked, but the claustrophobic feeling had just been perfected.
RE: The Queen - PKPower - 02-27-2018
Flagship Ostara
Somewhere in the walker nebula
02/25/825
Somewhere in the walker nebula
02/25/825
As Fischer entered the room he instantly felt the temperature dropping. While it could only have been a few degrees, it certainly felt like a dozen and he was thankful for every inch of his trenchcoat.
The Ostara was certainly in the firm hand of the Bundschuh, but its inhabitants were still free people to an extend. Everybody could send transmissions to every person and location they want - as long as the recipient and the location was aboard the Ostara.
During the past Days Fischer spent hours, upon hours listening to the inhabitants of the ship, their dreams, their fears and other irrelevant topics. The only transmissions that stood out were ones sent between members of a family on the far end of shelter deck two. Most of them were concerning their grandfather and contained short sentences like “We really need to visit grandpa soon.” or “I thought we grandpa could use a dog to keep him company.”. While they all were related, their records showed that there were no more family members left that were not on the Ostara, and the grandfather of the family was incinerated on Stuttgart 4 years ago. It was also clear that the code they were using was developed for regular everyday use, and not a situation like this; visiting people was not an issue and pets were not allowed on the ship.
Fischer followed the senders of the transmissions around. It seemed like the two oldest sons were doing most of the work. Every time they expressed the desire to give or tell something to their grandfather they left their room with some garbage and brought it to the incinerator.
After this discovery Fischer spent 48 hours digging through the block of charred, shredded, compressed trash that would have been floating in space now if he didn’t request to analyze it. After hours and hours Fischer built himself a strong, makeshift electromagnet and started to filter out all of the non-metallic materials. Analyzing what was left, Fischer found a device made to store data. While the parts that actually stored the data were metallic, the rest of it was made of an elastic gel-like structure that was sturdy enough to survive the shredder, the incinerator and the compactor.
Deciphering the stored data on the device was a task that took even longer. The code used on that one surpassed the one the conspirators used from day to day by a long shot and it was apparent that it was the brainchild of someone else. Just before he started his meditation earlier he was finally done gathering information from it. All of the contents were gathered from meetings in a rebuilt kitchen referred to as room 101. It was used by many mid- and high-ranked Bundschuh officials as a meeting room. Fischer knew that the topics matched the ones discussed in room 101 because he was listening in as well. Sure without permission, but as a reassurance he requested lists of the discussed topics as soon as he placed his surveillance device in the conference room.
Right now Fischer was treading on thin ice. Of course he was following his own agenda aside from being a part of the Bundschuh. And there was a high chance Generalministerin Haupt knew that. If he Fischer chose his words carefully, this was an opportunity to get one step closer to winning her over to his side.
“First of all I can assure you that most of those rumors are not true - as it tends to be the case with rumors. Now I don’t have to tell you that people are becoming restless and anxious. What I will tell you is that I have found the conspirators who have gained knowledge of our contact to the Rose and potentially even leaked this information to an outside source. I submitted the report for all of this on my way to this meeting. There is a detailed description of who they are and how they did it.”
He let the information he just gave her linger for a few moments. While Haupt did not show any reaction, Fischer knew that the effect was not one to be controlled, but to be processed by the recipients subconscious nevertheless. Of course she did not say anything after he finished - his success was expected.
“While comparing the information I found on the conspirators data storage with the list of topics discussed in room 101, I noticed that Bruchsal has been become quite the hot topic. Now I do not want to talk politics and problems - I want to talk solutions. Do I have your attention?”
RE: The Queen - Char Aznable - 03-05-2018
Nika raised an eyebrow behind the hair hanging in her face, glad another time that her new haircut made it even harder to read her mind. Her poker face didn't flinch, she just mustered the man that was still an unknown factor to her. 'Solutions'. It sounded like a veiled criticism, an attempt to provoke - or impress. Sure, she had experienced a few of both in the past, but few had been this bold. Not that she minded. She had gotten rid of her tendency to get offended a long time ago.
"You do, Fischer."
She simply responded to the question, her icy tone unchanged. There was no need for more words than necessary - she had already offered him three more than she had planned to, even though she hid it. She had to admit to herself that she wasn't certain what the man was getting at, as the question of Bruchsal and how to deal with the Rose had still not really been solved, something she had planned to brainstorm with Michael later - which made his move even more unorthodox. In her mind, she began re-evaluating the man in front of her, beginning with closing down the screensaver on the holographic table. The hologram vanished, not obstructing the direct vision between the two any longer. But it also robbed the room of another light source.
RE: The Queen - PKPower - 03-06-2018
Like back on Hamburg when Fischer executed the first task for the Bund he gambled and won. While both the feelings of immense relief and fear how long his luck would last clashed in his mind, he kept participating in the straight-face-contest with Haupt. The word ‘raise’ flashed through his mind and he kept going.
“I am aware of both the difference in manpower between the Rose and us, as well as the difference in supplies. This is why I would heavily advise against a head-on attack. Instead I’d opt for another style of attack. Swift, no direct involvement, big effect and no traces - as I tend to handle matters usually.”
Fischer was traversing a thin line. He knew that if he boasted any more, that would be the straw breaking the camel's back. Without any more circumlocutions he got right to the point.
“I was thinking of a cyber-attack. While I do have experience in the field, a lot has changed since I led such an attack the last time. What would be required for such an endeavour would be skilled personnel controlling the attack remotely, a virus to infiltrate the systems of Bruchsal, as well as a means for the virus to get there. While I already have a few ideas of how to acquire all those things, I thought I’d ask you first if something came to mind. As you know I’m rather new to the Bund and don’t know too much about relations, trustworthy contacts and things like that.”
As Fischer finished talking his whole body stiffened up, just waiting for Haupt to scold him for proposing an operation like that to her directly, instead of going to Kommisaroberst Wolf - his direct superior.
RE: The Queen - Char Aznable - 03-06-2018
Fischer's bluff was bold, she had to give him that. Only that.
Her eyes narrowed, almost unnoticeably. The darkness obscured it, luckily, but she still cursed herself for showing so much emotion. Sure, she was only human, but preventing to show her humanity was part of the act she put on every day.
The only reason why she was surprised was his way of being informed about things. So far, only a very select few of people knew of the content of the communications, and she knew that Wolf hadn't briefed his subordinates yet - which meant that the man in front of her was very well informed. A useful tool, she decided, before she leaned back and lay both hands on the table, the black carbon only slightly gleaming in the dim light. Her eyes were now fixed on his, pinning them down with a glare.
"What made you assume that I was planning on attacking the rose?"
Getting him off-balance was key, for one. A major part of analyzing both the man and his proposition was to find out what motivated him, and what lead him to the conclusions that he had come to. And before she could use someone to the full potential, she needed to know what made them tick.
While she was finishing her sentence, she connected her eyes with Ostara's database, pulling up Wolf's file on the man, skimming through the information that was available so far, without even breaking the eyelock for a second.
RE: The Queen - PKPower - 03-07-2018
Fischer didn’t know wether she just revealed important information, or was just trying to test him.
“Well I was not sure if you were planning on attacking the Rose. Hence my proposal.”
He felt Haupt getting more and more impatient with him - or was it just his imagination? Fischer was good at reading people. Very good. But with the Generalministerin it was hard because sometimes when a readable expression appeared on her face, she followed it up with a contradicting expression in a way only someone who was trained to mislead professionals could. But her surprise after Fischer made his proposal was genuine. That he was 75% sure of, which in his mind meant he could stay on top of the situation.
“What I’m offering here is the cleanest and most cost-effective solution to you problem and you are aware of that. As I understand it there are three options. One is that you have reasons to not change the situation on Bruchsal for some reason and won’t do anything. From what I’ve heard on the recordings that’s highly unlikely. The second one is that you dismiss me, but follow through with my proposal without me. I’m sure you have people who could be experienced enough to manage such an attack, but I can assure you, that you don’t have anyone as experienced as me. The third option is to choose and go with the plan I proposed. I would fully understand you choosing any of the options.”
On the inside Fischer was screaming for her to take him up on the offer already. There was no way Haupt could have any interest to not launch an attack on Bruchsal and with his first operation he had proven that he was capable of handling complex situations, as well as staying true to his word. He was sure that she at least skimmed through his file before calling him here. There was no sensible option but to just give him green light already. But what if he missed something. Like a dark cloud doubt still crept around the back of Fischers mind. Were the meetings in room 101 concerning Bruchsal staged? That would include Kommisaroberst Wolf putting on a show just to trick Fischer. Why would anyone realistically go that far? Anxiously Fischer waited for her to respond.
RE: The Queen - Char Aznable - 03-07-2018
There were days where Annika had the patience for mind games, and frankly, those were quite often. Today however was not one of them. She cut in almost immediately after the last word uttered by Fischer, making sure that he couldn't keep on talking. He was definitely trying to fast-talk her, attempting to overplay his confidence. She could see the sweat on his forehead despite the dim lighting - and despite the frigid air in the room.
"I honestly don't believe that you are aware of the ramifications of your suggestion, Fischer."
Her statement was simple, matter-of-fact-like, and on point. Sure, he seemed to have been able to think of most problems that would have to be overcome in the execution, but...
"First of all, where would we get such a virus? And even if we get one... Do you have any idea on how much of a politically suicidal that kind of endeavour would be? It'd hurt the rose, sure, but in the long run we would probably suffer much more from it than they would."
She hid the fact well that she did like the plan, and had indeed already come up with a solution to at least the second problem. The question was... Would he survive the tension she was building, and come up with an idea himself, or would he be unable to think. To even stress him further, she mentally gave the order to lock the door behind him, the slight 'click' cutting through the silence after her words like a gong in an empty hall.
RE: The Queen - PKPower - 03-09-2018
The clicking of the door lock made Fischers heart sink and sent his mind flying. 'I messed up' was the first thing that crossed his mind. This however was followed with more thoughts. Why lock him in, instead of taking him out immediately? Why is Haupt still asking questions? And then it finally klicked. They are turning the pressure up, just like he did in his years serving the Rheinland as a specialist in interrogation and surveillance tactics. Just this time he wasn't the one leading the interrogation. Fischers feeling of failiure shifted and started to form into hope.
“Why would we suffer political repercussions for a virus of untracable origins? It just arrives there one day on a supply ship. We're not the only ones who don't get along with the Rose.”
It had been some time since Fischer had a worthy 'opponent' when it came to mind games. Most people didn't really give him a challenge these days. No Haupt. If he slipped up like he did just a few sentences ago she would jump at the opportunity. Fischer had to keep his guard up for now.
RE: The Queen - Char Aznable - 03-12-2018
Leaning back in her chair was comfortable. It didn't look like it, but it was. Another edge she had over whoever she called in here, who had to shift and find a good way to sit on the blank stools in front of the table. It gave her time to ponder while whoever sat across the desk would usually get jumpy quickly. She gave another mental order, the holoprojector in the desk flaring up again and displaying the eagle-crowned rose of her current enemy. The translucent, slowly spinning picture separated the space between them. Time to see how smart he was.
"Then tell me, Fischer. Who doesn't get along with the rose?"
A question as simple as asking for a spreadsheet with diplomacy, but the implication, she hoped, was clear. 'Who do you want to blame?' And of course, that still left the question of how to not only hide their tracks, but also point in the direction of someone else, whoever he suggested. She could've given him options, of course, but decided against it. A man in his position should be as well-informed as possible, especially when he approached her.
The only audible sound was that of her metal fingers, clacking against each other in a steady rhythm, like a robotic heartbeat.