+- Discovery Gaming Community (https://discoverygc.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Role-Playing (https://discoverygc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=9)
+--- Forum: Stories and Biographies (https://discoverygc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=56)
+--- Thread: The Spider's Watch (/showthread.php?tid=160335)
The Spider's Watch - Thexare - 04-22-2018
It would be unfair to characterize this smalll, dimly-lit office as a former broom closet. Melbourne Station had just been built, after all - no one had yet put brooms into it. But it was sufficent to house the bare minimum equipment needed by the Minister of Intelligence, at least until a proper office was arranged. It was even big enough to temporarily house one or two guests for debriefing. Victor had always considered the modular structures a bit generous with their non-cargo storage areas, but then, times like this weren't unusual for him. Awkward temporary offices until he could get his real workspace.
Today, the would-be closet housed three. A pale, slender man, a beautiful blonde woman, and an athletic pink-and-black-haired woman. Escher, Tesseract, and Rebel Eye. Or as they were more commonly known, Victor, Kelly, and Natalie.
"Now, neither of you are properly Commission operatives at this time," Victor explained, having shown the two women the recent exchange between himself and the Corse representative, "but you've shown yourselves capable of discretion. And I have no one else available to bounce this off of. So what do you make of this?"
"... we were wrong about the Corse?" Kelly asked, confused. "Victor, I know your procedure. You check and recheck, you don't leave that up to chance."
"Nah, sis, I know this one," Natalie replied, shaking her head. "Ran into it in Rheinland a few times. You float that sort of question and see the response. Not usually as directly as Vic did, but the idea's the same. They claimed to be entirely legitimate, and also claimed loyalty to the hypnoking." Victor nodded and motioned for her to continue. "But see, they didn't cut us off. They left open the possibility Vic floated of business down the line - even knowing of our opposition to Gallia." She smirked, and concluded, "They're as loyal as they are legitimate, and they're as legitimate as Vic's last visit to Kusari. Just gotta read between the lines."
"Very good, very good. Now, how do you evaluate my response?"
"You don't normally admit error, not without it being another angle," Kelly said, closing her eyes and thinking. After a moment, she added, "A chance to save face, then. Help them maintain the facade. A backstep to avoid the line, but not a full retreat. Reassert your willingness to deal, even despite being 'wrong'."
"Good, I didn't choose the wrong sounding board," Victor replied, standing up - a little shorter than the Combs sisters, it turns out. "Natalie picked up on this, I think - that wasn't my intended approach. But, we adapt or we die, and I'd rather not die just yet. Better things to do with my time than visit my parents." Natalie cocked an eyebrow, but let that one go. "It will unfortunately be some time before real progress is made there, I think, and we're running into bizarre issues with our Coalition access codes - I've got a man in the vicinity working on it. In fact, we're running into several inexplicable technical problems. That in mind, business suggestions?"
"The Miners can't be seen working too closely with us," Kelly began, considering the local region, "the Outcasts will be... suspicious at best, given our current affiliations. The Dragons and Chrysanthemums... don't actually have a lot they can offer us, as far as I'm aware. Kusari is a closed market as far as Crayter goes, and we've never had much better luck before. Damn, I think that just leaves the Zoners locally."
Natalie chimed in next, "I bet the Junkers'll be eager to do something against Gallia after Trafalgar. Other than that though, I can't think of anything."
Silently, Victor considered matters further afield - the Red Hessians and the Order were at the top of his list, but would need to be handled carefully."Alright, good. I may have work for the two of you soon. We haven't always gotten along, Kelly, but you're a clear thinker and you're careful."
"I'm not transferring to the Commission."
"Oh, no, of course not. You're more helpful with the Fleet anyway. This would be more of a... temporary mission profile. Natalie, on the other hand, I may have more long-term employment for."
"I'm listening..."
RE: The Spider's Watch - Thexare - 04-24-2018
Later the same day, Natalie returned to the broom closet at Victor's request, carrying a tablet with a list of names displayed. Still seated at his temporary desk, Victor immediately got to business.
"Shiranui is on assignment again and Mindcrime is otherwise occupied." He paused and considered the old AI project. "Proteus is deactivated. What else do you have?"
Natalie paused. She wasn't sure how Victor would take this. "Bellatrix and Kronos are... not accounted for. They might've left during the Exodus. ... or..."
"Or they may be among the casualties," Victor finished, without hesitation. This was not a possibility he liked, though. Good agents were hard to find with his channels. "Very well. The assets I had you check on?"
"Dorado-class ferry Green River. New. SEW/C loadout. All systems green. Currently on assignment. R-9W Raven Premonition, early model. General combat armament. Minor maintenance needed, but fully functional within Tau range. Series CX Scimitar Prophecy, general armament. Going through experimental engine overhauls. BYC Marauder Animus Vox, long-range equipment. Status unknown. HFX-series combined arms platform Madness, strike craft armament. Status unknown. Voyager deep space freighter Hysteria, status unknown. Vic, those last two were owned by the same person-"
"Yes, I know that. Continue."
"SV-17 Virage strike fighter Superstition, stealth refits. For practical purposes, unrecoverable. We could outfit three new strike craft for the cost of fixing your old fighter, and I gotta be honest Vic, it just wasn't that effective."
"Unfortunate, but expected. That's... hmm. That's all our field agents and field resources, counting the ones I checked on myself. That is..." Victor scrolled through screens of data on his own console and took a deep breath before continuing, "that is going to be a problem."
To call the Octavarium Intelligence Commission a small operation would be the acme of understatement. Even if every citizen of Natio Octavarium were employed by the Commission, they would still be dwarfed by the Liberty Security Force. Historically, they compensated through misdirection and the creative application of diplomatic leverage. And when that failed, tactical relocation of OCS Metropolis usually corrected the problem. The sudden deployment of one of the largest ships in the sector usually does that.
But half the Commission's resources, for both fieldwork and analysis, were unaccounted for and the Metropolis was gone. He had the option now of calling in Crayter reinforcements, but that's not the same. He would not be in direct control, and Crayter has historically been a bit more directly confrontational than his typical style. The Order could be a viable emergency option, but they have very specific interests in things Octavarium tries to avoid. And with Octavarium's new neighbors, proper intelligence and emergency response capabilities were vital.
"We need to rebuild, and I think I'll have to commandeer some Fleet resources. Kane won't like that, of course, but we need the knife more than the cannon right now."
"Pugio in Averso Belli," Natalie replied, catching Victor's reference, the motto of the Commission. "A dagger used against war. That's why you called me for this, isn't it? You said you had work."
"Yes. Your sister is helpful for diplomatic work,, but too... rigid for the Commission. But you know what must be done and you act. And a lot of people underestimate the pink-haired party girl they think you are."
Natalie smiled. "Agent Corona, reporting."
Victor couldn't help but smile. She'd been planning for this, hadn't she? "Relax, you're dismissed. I'll have work for you later, though. I have to get a proper operations wing set up, I think that'll be our first project."
RE: The Spider's Watch - Thexare - 06-03-2018
The old Petrucci farm was of no importance. Just a variable Escher had failed to account for after removing a problematic Warlord, and then filed away as resolved.
Of no importance.
Of course, it had its value as a resource. There were Maltese among the Raiders, and addicts from elsewhere as well. Being able to supply their own would help reduce Malta's influence over Octavarian politics.
But still. No significant importance.
Escher sat at his desk going over endless piles of files, mostly crosschecking current events against historical records. There were some other specific reports of interest, as well - an artifact smuggler in Cambridge, a freelancer flying a Titan in Omicron Tau. Supply runs to Marne, and the mapping that followed. Recon in Rishiri and Nagano, and the hidden-away depot off the beaten path. The Pillar project was nearing completion. One sample of nanites codenamed YERSINIA was reserved for Dr. John Henry Holiday, one of the most respected medical minds in Sirius. One more was in reserve for joint evaluations headed by Dr. Lachlan MacBlair and Yuma Robotics.
These were important. Not the plantation. Not the plantation, or the grave that was on it.
He had work to busy himself with.
Most people visiting his office could tell from looking at him that something was a bit off, but didn't know what to make of it. There was one exception, a beautiful blonde from Liberty who closed the door behind her as soon as she saw him.
"What's wrong?" Kelly asked.
"Not sure what you're talking about," Victor replied flatly, flipping between console windows. Kelly sighed and shook her head.
"I've known you too long for that," she replied, approaching the desk. "I know the difference between you not feeling anything, and you acting like you're not feeling anything. You're jittery, your eyes aren't completely focused, and you're tapping on the desk. Something's not under control, and you hate that." She leaned over the desk to look him directly in the eyes, and even then his typical annoyed defiance was gone. "Something is wrong. And it's not operational, you'd tell me that."
He closed his eyes and took a breath, shook his head, and returned to the console. Kelly had been frustrated, but now she was worried. She pulled a chair around behind the desk and sat down next to him as realization dawned. "It's about Petrucci, isn't it?"
"After my aunt threw me out, I lived on the streets of Los Angeles. I was twelve," he began, expecting Kelly to tell him to hurry up and get to the point. To his surprise, she didn't, so he continued. "I ended up a courier for smugglers, a thief, a pickpocket. Whatever I had to do to live. Worked for gangs and other criminals sometimes for better connections, but as soon as they thought I might be a threat they turned on me. Some tried to turn me in, some tried to get me killed, some tried to kill me themselves. John was the first person to hire me and not do any of that. It was a new experience for me. It's a large part of why I've stuck with the Raiders so long." He took a deep breath and looked toward Kelly, but beyond her. "And I wasn't... there. He never wronged me, and at the end... I wasn't there."
The mask had slipped once again. This wasn't Escher, noted asshole and spymaster. This was the maladjusted man forced to become Escher. Kelly couldn't think of anything to do but hug him and help him through his mourning. And perhaps, eventually, he would be able to leave the mask behind.
RE: The Spider's Watch - Thexare - 06-28-2018
A number of Octavarian civilians had already relocated to Canberra Star City, but Victor stuck with his office-closet on Melbourne. His equipment was there, and there were few he trusted with its relocation. Until ADSV Fort Resolution returned from its assignment, he would continue operations right where he was.
The fact that Melbourne was significantly quieter than Canberra certainly contributed. A soundproofing request for the Commission section had already been filed. In his days on Los Angeles he found safety in crowds, but now he was too recognizable.
He carried two bowls to his desk, each filled with an approximation of an old Earth jambalaya recipe. A number of substitutions were necessary, in particular it took quite a while to find the right sausage, but he considered it worth the effort. Evelynn Fairfax was already seated, looking over her tablet at what appeared to be an expense table. She looked up when she heard Victor's approach and smiled. "Smells better than I expected, Vic. I didn't know you could cook."
"Well, when you don't trust anyone else to do it, it's that or live on salad," he replied, taking his seat and resuming his work. "And after a while, I got tired of all that lettuce. Now, what did you do with that ship you hijacked after that... incident in Leeds?"
"Sold it to the Endecott sisters, gave them some doctored papers to go with. Its previous owner's activities would be an issue, but with the modifications Colleen's already made it'll probably never get traced back to him."
Victor quickly typed something on the console in front of him. "I had ideas for that ship, but we can probably source a new one anyway. Did she seem willing to work with us?"
Between bites, Evelynn nodded. "She even offered us discount work. I know Aquila handles a lot of our modifications, but more options are good."
Victor put down his spoon and took a deep breath. "Now, for the bigger business at hand. Once word gets out about Canberra, Gallia won't be our only problem."
"Meaning?"
"Do you think Malta or Kusari will simply let that go? Bretonia and Liberty are further out, but will probably try to get someone out here for 'monitoring'. A station like that is a unique resource, one that all of our neighbors will want. Including Crayter. Kane will resort to diplomacy, as he always does, but I don't think that will work."
Evelynn looked down at her tablet, and switched to a detailed view of all Commission data on Canberra. "What if it's not unique?" Victor cocked an eyebrow, and she continued, "Everything here is reproducable. When the Fort gets back, we get to work on a new station - smaller, but in the same style. We can't conceal that we didn't build Canberra, too many people saw it already. But we can prove that we can build another. So instead of attempting to seize it, they may simply contract us to build more."
"And showing that if necessary, we can just go into hiding again and survive. Once Canberra is complete, it will be self-sustaining. Infinitely, if we've planned this right. We can repeat that."
Evelynn laughed. "Always another escape plan. You remind me of my uncle."
"And Henry's still alive, so I'd say I'm on the right track."
RE: The Spider's Watch - Thexare - 07-19-2018
"Yo, boss, did you pick up that signal?" Natalie's voice called over the comm system.
"I did. We've severed all unknown equipment from the network already, and we're getting some multi-spectrum jammers moved into position to block wireless signals until we can get some proper shielding in place." Victor took a breath and surveyed what he feared may just be another in a long line of temporary offices. Nothing was fully installed yet but the furniture, and the temporary network was taking up a significant portion of what should be the main lobby of the Commission wing. "Alert Logistics. Keep liners moored permanently for emergency evacuation. Disconnect only when a moor is needed. Suspend Ashen Spectre, this takes absolute priority."
"Got it."
"Oh, and make sure none of those vehicles we've got in storage are operated by AI. I'd think Liberty wouldn't be that stupid given their Hacker issues, but I've been wrong about that before."
Times like this made Victor particularly grateful to have pulled the plug on the Raiders' old AI project. The last thing they would need is an unidentified signal causing their highly-efficient murderbot to lose his proper targeting protocols. Even so, just once it would be nice to settle down in a place that doesn't end up trying to kill him, he mused.
Contingency after contingency rolled through his head. With each, another problem. Valravn? Unlikely to be accepted, and even if they were, Victor didn't really trust Auxesia. Kansas? Too close to Liberty. The Lehigh was reportedly reassigned, but the proximity would still be an issue. Maltese space? Not a place independence can last. Omega-49?
Omega-49 had potential.
"Agent Paracusia," he said into his comm system.
"Reporting."
"Investigate Omega-49, pursuant to Contingency Plan Dove."
"Roger."
RE: The Spider's Watch - Thexare - 08-08-2018
"But that's not the explanation, is it?" a familiar voice asked as Victor ended his call to Kane.
"No, most likely not. Your suspicions are probably correct. We've already prepared OCS Save Yourself, but Sundog has little combat experience in a torpedo ship. I'm hoping the cultists' fanaticism hinders their combat ability." He turned to face his visitor, and gestured to the chair. The agent took their seat and took off their hood, revealing long, straight black hair and a very androgynous, clearly Kusarian face. Their bulky flight suit didn't answer any questions either. "Agent, I still haven't completely figured you out yet."
"I'm not that complicated," the agent replied, "I'm exactly what you see. Today, you see Agent Paracusia of the Octavarium Intelligence Commission. Tomorrow, you'll see Shuji Iwahara, free trader. Friday, you'll see Kyoko Arakawa, a logistics coordinator on Canberra."
"Now I have even more questions."
"And yet you already have the answers. Consider Commission policies, and the reason for our aliases. Then extrapolate from there." Paracusia stood back up and turned toward the door, adding, "Now if I'm excused, I need to have words with Shiranui over the state of Premonition."
"Dismissed, Agent," Victor replied, waving them out. As the door closed behind Paracusia, the familiar form of Sundog stepped out from behind a cabinet. She was the sort that would easily draw attention, with her piercing grey eyes and impressive figure... and the fact that she was probably the Commission's tallest agent, at just a hair over two meters. This didn't do her any favors for concealing her identity, so she took other sorts of work instead. "Carol, where did you find that one?"
"Freeports 6, 10, and 1, and Roppongi Station. It took a bit to connect the dots, figure out who they were. An impressive asset, really.