His ship was vibrating menacingly. Roland heard a few shots go buy near the hull but he didn’t have the time to observe. He did what he could to fix the Eagle’s engine through the cockpit as two hostile Eagles were spraying energy shots of multiple shapes and colours – courtesy of class 10 guns. Suddenly the tail wing got blown away and a fire started creeping from the back of the ship – or what was left of it. Although he chose not to swear as a sign of self-control, Roland was unable to keep control of the pressure. At this point, his vulgarities could put a Liberty Rogue to shame. Screaming fearfully into the public comm channels demanding for help from anybody before his will broke. He began to ask for survival even though he knew it wouldn’t come. It was time to abandon ship. With seconds to spare, his escape pod ejected from the Eagle and began drifting through space. The two eagles that pursued and destroyed his vehicle flew by him without stopping their thrusters. And then they disappeared and left him to finish up the little oxygen he had left.
Several kilometers away, a freighter was holding still in the middle of space. The crew inside listened in. In such a situation, the average Sirian would expect the freighter to rescue the escape pod and take them to the nearest medical center. But this was no ordinary crew. The freighter had wires and wires of complicated long range listening devices implanted within its hold. Its crew was speaking in German.
Enter, the Buro der Marineintelligenz. For the first time in a month since they were deployed, the crew finally had something to report back to Schatten Research Facility, the headquarters of the BDM. Orders were relayed back and they were instructed to confirm what had happened.
15 minutes earlier…
“Operation Barrister is a go, I repeat, Barrister is a go.” The Handler sitting at the Embassy had cut off all communications after saying that on the closed channel. It was now up for the three Eagle pilots to do their job. The first Eagle pilot, Roland, punched the cruise button. He was given a head start. “Make it believable, gents.” He stated confidently to the other two Eagle pilots. Banks and Nixon, the other two pilots gave Roland a head start before firing their cruise disruptors. Combat had now begun at thrust speed for all three ships. But the numbers of shots being fired were few. And they weren’t hitting their target (Roland) either. Banks and Nixon were lackluster at best. But at least their acting was intense. “Banks! Flank him from underneath and I’ll come in from the top!” Nixon shouted as dramatically as he could. Banks continued the chatter in a similar fashion as Roland listened in, flying his ship in a straight line.
Roland began checking up on the controlled explosives planted on his ship. They were designed to set off at a specific part of the ship to prevent his death but feign the destruction of his vessel. As the energy shots zipped by (with none of them actually hitting Roland’s Eagle), the controlled explosives began to go off and tear the ship apart. Roland, in similar dramatic fashion, began screaming for help on the public comm channels, although according to the scanners there was no one around. But everyone knew that wasn’t true, everyone except for the Rheinlanders. This was just a big scene, made specifically for the BDM’s listening pleasure. After he ejected his escape pod, the ship set off its final controlled explosive and transformed, with the help flames, into a pile of wreckage the Junkers would be proud of. A few seconds later, Banks and Nixon performed their fly by. To the simple onlooker, they would’ve assumed this was a movie set. But then again, there were no cameras. But there were microphones.
As the undercover BDM freighter approached the site where Roland’s vessel was shot down, it saw the wreckage of a properly destroyed ship and an escape pod with life signs in it. They tractored in the pod and then reported it back to Schatten. After identifying the individual, they were instructed to bring him in rather than take him to a hospital and leave him alone. As the freighter was entering the trade lane from Tsushima Depot, Nixon and Banks flew by once again, quietly scanning the cargo of the freighter. They confirmed a life pod inside its cargo hold. It was Roland.
After a few hours had gone by, the Handler contacted Banks and Nixon. “We need a SITREP (situation report), how did everything go?” Nixon opened the channel and informed the handler what happened. “Roland was inside the BDM freighter. The life signs inside his pod confirmed he’s still alive as we expected. The Rheinlanders played right into our trap, we’ve got an agent inside now.” The Handler took a moment to double check before asking one more question. “The documents, they were planted inside Roland’s ship correct?” Nixon confirmed it. Roland had documents affirming his identity. The documents planted on his ship and were now with Roland on his escape pod. “Great. Head back to the Embassy.” The atmosphere was quiet but Banks and Nixon were exultant after their first operation.
The Handler then went over to the Station Chief. “Sir, Barrister is in. The fake documents have been planted and he is in the custody of the BDM.” The Station Chief sighed and simply took off his reading glasses. “This is the part where the gamble begins.” The Handler said in a lower and more concerned tone.
It had been a long day, the result of an operation that took a month to plan and implement. In the next few hours, the plan could backfire, or it could come to fruition. The Station Chief, the Handler and the rest of the staff at the Liberty Embassy at Planet New Tokyo had then gone home as working hours were over.
In the morning, they would find out whether the LSF had managed to place a double agent within the ranks of the BDM, or if they just voluntarily gave away an intelligence officer with vital intel to the Rheinland government.
“If we really want to get serious about helping all the people living in the street and getting people jobs, we could just hire half the people in the country to spy on the other half.”
There were all the hallmarks of a makeshift interrogation room. It was the back room of a cheap equipment sweatshop. It was entirely empty save one man, the prisoner, an LSF agent named Roland Avery Wall. He was strapped to a chair which locked his hands, legs and his neck. Engines in disrepair were in a room full of repair, cutting and construction machinery. There was a single large white light at the top which illuminated the entire room very brightly so as to provoke sleep deprivation. The room was dusty and anything made of metal was rusty. All the windows were covered with wooden boards with a few cracks in them. There was also a mirror right next to the only door to the room. The mirror was probably a window through which Roland’s interrogator was observing him. Roland was surprised he wasn’t under "Heavy Medication" Roland looked towards his hand and cracks and cuts were appearing, a sign of Eczema. That meant the environment was very dry and below humidity levels. He couldn’t move his fingers without a little pain.
A man with brown hair, grey eyes and a slight need to shave opened the door and walked in slowly carrying a document with him. A metal table was in front of them where he placed the document down. These were the fake documents the LSF had planted on Roland. There large red stencil stamp on the file read “DISAVOWED”. “Name, date of birth, serial number.” The interrogator asked in an unremarkable tone but a remarkable Bretonian accent whilst flipping through the pages of the file. “I do believe you’re looking at it right now.” Roland said in a quaint manner, in his own Bretonian accent. The interrogator made a slight gesture, suggesting he noted what Roland had mentioned and promptly closed the file. “Listen Mr. Wall, I could sit around here and waste our time. I could sit here quietly and stare at you for hours. I could sit here and contemplate you. But I’m going to tell you that I am a pragmatic man and I don’t believe in the need to intimidate you. If anything, I have an opportunity for you which I feel you will take great interesting in taking advantage of.” “You actually believe everything in that file.” The sarcasm in Roland was unmistakable while the interrogator simply went by stating facts about him in a bland tone. He was devoid of emotion but the Bretonian accent continued to confuse Roland. Was he a Bretonian spy? Were we wrong about the BDM freighter? Roland was half-Bretonian and could use both Libertonian and Bretonian accents interchangeably. “Mr. Wall, I'm asking you to pay attention. I want to know your story, or at least your side of it.” He was more interested now. “I take it you’re talking about the arms smuggling.” The interrogator leaned back on his seat, preparing to listen to his prisoner’s story.
“I was framed. The two pilots that shot me down were the real arms smugglers. They were corrupt LSF officers who so far had evaded internal affairs. They did that by fabricating evidence and pinning the blame on me.” Roland began to weaken his tone; he needed the interrogator to believe what he had said. “One of them was my old training officer…” The interrogator shared his look, but in his mind, he couldn’t care less. “I take it that instead of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, its ‘innocent until you’re under investigation’?” The interrogator asked. “That’s exactly it.” They continued to talk more about Roland’s history in the LSF and the Navy. To the interrogator, it seemed like the perfect catch. A man betrayed by his own country who displayed very little ideological commitment to his nation. He was in dire financial need as the LSF frozen his bank accounts. He had nowhere to turn to and no government to protect him. He was a Knight Errant, or more appropriately, a spy errant. This man had no cause to serve.
But it was all too good to be true. The interrogator needed to have it confirmed. With the file the LSF had planted on Roland, the interrogator had enough information to narrow his search. He left the room after speaking with Roland without giving him a hint of what his next move was. He then set up a secure line to Walter Glenn. He was an intelligence asset of the interrogator, a disgruntled employee of Agiera who passed on counterfeit software illegally to the Lane Hackers. He also had a mistress. The interrogator contacted Walter, a man so fearful he had been reduced to a little boy. “I’ve transferred the documents over to your NeuralNet account. I need you to hack into the LSF database and find his file. I’ve given you his serial number and other necessary information so you should be able to narrow your search. Send me his file in the database and I’ll extend my deadline where I reveal your connection to the hackers and the existence of your mistress.” As the interrogator finished giving orders, Glenn whimpered to himself.
An hour later, the interrogator had gone through the file and it was homogenous to the one that was planted on Roland. He concluded that it was evidence that the file wasn’t a fake. Meanwhile at the LSF Headquarters the files now showed Roland as a disavowed agent, officially at least. It was done to give his story credibility despite the fact that when he returns, if he returned to Liberty, he would be treated as a criminal and possibly tried for treason. Few people in the LSF knew what Roland had volunteered for.
“Well, we’ve confirmed most of the details in your file but there’s one more thing that’s bugging me. They’ve listed you as an illegal arms smuggler, but your file doesn’t indicate who your buyers were nor the source of your weapons – excuse me, the weapons of the people who framed you Roland.”
“They didn’t want to disclose that information, their business would’ve been destroyed and it would’ve linked back to them. They only did it so far as to protect them and get rid of the evidence. Me.” This didn’t help. The interrogator became accusatory. “Very well, but then how did the LSF get enough evidence to blame you for the crime?”
“You said it yourself. In the LSF, you’re innocent until you’re investigated.”
Roland couldn’t have said it better. The interrogator now had full confidence in Roland’s story. He was expecting the prisoner to say that one of the corrupt LSF officers was an internal affairs agent, at which point the interrogator would’ve simply sent Roland over to Schatten for further interrogation. He would’ve mentioned the internal affairs officer when he claimed that one of the pilots trying to kill him was his training officer. But the response Roland gave was not the response he expected. It all added up.
“I want you to work with us, become an asset of mine. I have the full backing of the BDM. You will have to earn that right, but I can provide you with the necessary resources you’ll need to carry out your operations. Once you have done enough for us, we will extract you and give you a new identity and a new life in Rheinland . You’ll also be paid for your troubles. And we’ll assist you with finding your arms smuggling framers.” The interrogator said. “You won’t get a better opportunity anywhere else.”
Roland paused. “I’ll take it.” The interrogator relaxed once again. It was the first intelligence asset he had recruited who was already a fully trained agent. Although he couldn’t recruit him with the prized method – ideological conversion – he atleast managed to recruit him on his desire for revenge. Meanwhile, Roland had successfully played off the gamble. He was now the LSF’s double agent inside the BDM, and the Buro still had no idea.
His real file – the one which contained the details of Operation Barrister, a long term plan to insert a double agent inside the BDM, was sitting on the desk of the Station Chief at the Liberty Embassy in New Tokyo. Once the Station Chief concluded that Roland had provided enough information, Roland would be eligible for extraction by the LSF. This still allowed Roland to restart his life in Liberty, but it would come as a great risk. He was asked to volunteer for this operation on the basis that his personality profile showed that he was very likely to refuse surrender at all costs.
The interrogator got up from his seat to head back to the control room. Here he would unlock his new assets chair so that he could move freely again. Once the chair was unlocked and Roland was no longer in his prison, he asked an important question to the interrogator, a detail he had omitted. “How long has it been since I was here?” The interrogator realized he was referring to the ceiling light, bright enough to deprive his former prisoner of sleep. “You haven’t slept in two days.” He answered. “I see, and one more thing. Who’s my contact inside the BDM?” The interrogator realized this was the real omission.
The month after the interrogation was spent running background checks and further interrogation on what Roland knew about the LSF. The small and unimportant details were true, the big ones were lies. Roland then began to re-establish contact with his old intelligence assets in criminal organisations and started working for Stoltenberg in earnest. Rheinland always had a history of authoritarianism which made communicating with the LSF difficult. He was being watched almost all the time. Nevertheless, Roland eventually caught up with his LSF officer, a woman. All he knew about her was that she liked Bloody Marys.
A bar at Barrier Gate Station
When Roland arrived, he only saw one redheaded woman. She had an alternative look as opposed to a conventional one, with fiery red and orange hair as if she was a phoenix. He had the bartender send her a Bloody Mary. She packed up and left and Roland started following her down the hallway. She turned around in an alley, Roland was near confident this was her, but when he entered the alley, a bullet scratched his ear. She was an outcast. Roland realised that’s why she had an alternative, almost punk look. Before he could pull out his own weapon and react, another woman ran up to him and pushed him down. Several more outcasts were appearing on all sides of the hallway and Roland couldn’t understand whether he was being pirated or killed. But the woman who ran him down forced him up and grabbed his hand and began sprinting and shooting in every direction. She shot indiscriminately while putting a bag over Roland’s head and urgently said “We need to keep you hidden!”
Half an hour later, Roland and the woman had hacked their way into a random freighter cargo bay. She turned the lights on to reveal herself, as Roland didn’t get a chance to see her before she put the black bag over him. “I needed to prevent people from seeing your face; you had to maintain a low profile.” She had jet black hair and a black left eye. But the pupils on her right were cyan with a sharp scar running down to her cheeks. She was from Kusari, probably came to Liberty and began to work for the LSF. This was the LSF officer he had to report to. “Well thanks for that. All they had me to go on was that you liked Bloody Marys. I assumed it was the outcast.” Roland said while pushing his hair back while taking a seat. She leaned on the flight control panels. “Establishing contact with you isn’t easy. You’re going to have to come up with a better way to communicate with us, more often.” Her tone was serious and she tried to hide her ‘pissed off’ attitude. “Listen I’ll do whatever you want but next time lets meet somewhere that isn’t lawless.” She silently agreed with Roland. In her raspy voice she introduced herself as Katsumi. Roland proceeded to brief the person who saved his life.
“The officer I report to in the Buro is a guy named Erich Stoltenberg. He just came in this year and he’s eager to prove himself. He had me set with menial jobs at first, mostly just reconnaissance or following a Berliner suspected of providing funds for the Bundschuh. We had one major operation taking down a smuggling route for Blood Diamonds but that’s it so far.” Katsumi recognised that the BDM officer, Stoltenberg, was their way in, but the LSF would have to decrease his influence. He needed to become more dependent on Roland. Roland needed to become more important to the BDM.
“I need you to get what you can on this man, Stoltenberg.” Roland looked confused at her request. “Are we going to take him out? He’s my way in, he’s not important enough to be taken, even if he’s taken alive.” “No Roland, I just need you to get me any information you can about him and his operations in the Buro. We both know he’s got other assets and that he running other ops, I need you to get me information on that.” “I’ll see what I can do, but what happens next?” “I need him to become more dependent on you. It’s the only way he’s going to give you intel that we can actually do something about.”
Suddenly, the freighter cargo doors were opening and the two of them scrambled to hide. While Roland hid behind a box in the shadow of a corner, Katsumi climbed a pipe on the ceiling, and looked down upon what was happening. The fiery redhead returned, but not with the outcasts she was with. The men with her were carried fully automatic assault rifles. They were trained paramilitary forces, not the amateur outcasts that were with her before. They began to search the freighter while simultaneously trashing it. Roland slipped away from the ship, but Katsumi, on the ceiling, was in no position to do so. She pulled out her sidearm while hanging on the ceiling and lowered one of her arms, aiming for the redhead.
“It's about these people who are inextricably together for whatever reasons, and they happen to be in the spy world. It's about relationships, and the bottom line is, that's why you care.”
Roland had escaped the freighter and entered the hangar. The outcast and her mercenaries didn’t see him as they were inside; the freighter doors were still open. He noticed was Katsumi was doing, where her sidearm was aimed at. They now held the initiative. He creeped up towards the closest mercenary and silently pulled his own sidearm. The mercenary was grabbed by the throat and Roland kicked his assault rifle to the floor. Roland pointed his weapon at the merc’s head and just as the rest of the mercenaries and the outcast woman were about to shoot, Katsumi released a bullet near the outcast. The outcast, in shock though unharmed looked up and saw what she was dealing against. “If you fire you will die, outcast.” The mercs laid down their weapons against the scowl of their outcast employer. If the redhead outcast died, they wouldn’t get paid.
The outcast was ordered to drop her weapon. Having nothing to prove and everything to live for, the redhead outcast surrendered herself as Katsumi dropped from the ceiling with gun still aimed at the redhead. Roland and Katsumi took their hostages and slowly walked out of the freighter before a ragged band of armed junkers arrived. All they saw was a bunch of people pointing guns at each other and not shooting on their freighter. The junkers and they pulled out their shotguns and makeshift rifles and began to spray whatever bullets they could. The outcast kicked Katsumi and broke free and Katsumi tried to find cover whilst firing back. The mercs shot back at the junkers and grabbed the outcast woman and ran out of the hangar, with one team providing covering fire while the other took the redhead and sprinted. The redhead never had a chance to reclaim her weapon. Roland shot the merc he was holding hostage and he and Katsumi shot back at the junkers while running at a different exit. Once they were clear, without saying another word they had concluded it was time to leave Barrier Gate.
Outside the station on their ships, Katsumi formed a secure line to Roland’s vessel. But before either of them could say a word, a colonial patrol arrived and identified the undercover LSF officers as mercenaries. Katsumi’s cargo hold had a little cardamine in it; she was a former Golden Chrysanthemum. The colonials who had recently colonised the Coronado system had become hostile and a dogfight ensued. But there was no time for a dogfight. Roland already knew what he had to do and Katsumi could take care of herself. Both of them cruised out of the system in opposite directions with Roland heading to the Cortez system. Eventually, they lost the colonials.
The Ring, New Berlin System
Stoltenberg had arranged a meeting with Roland to discuss his next operation. Stoltenberg needed more information on the Zoner Alliance, a group in the Omicrons resembling the Omicroner movement of the past. They had locked down the Omicron – 74 system for the second time as there was a leadership change within the movement. The Buro needed information on the group, their combat strength and the defence structures they had erected at the jump – holes in that region. It was a vital artery into the omicron systems and the edge worlds. But it didn’t affect Rheinland at all Roland thought. He needed to prove his ability because he still wasn’t being trusted. Trust was going to take years to build. It had to be done through necessity like Katsumi mentioned.
He needed a suitable distraction to find out what was in the file Stoltenberg carried. Stoltenberg had not opened or referred to it throughout the meeting. The distraction he needed was already provided for him. Katsumi’s ship was outside the Ring. She had probably tracked him to meet him this time, although that put his cover at considerable risk, depending on whether the BDM had a dossier on her or not. Nonetheless, he could still take advantage of the situation.
Intelligence officers are trained like detectives, to notice all the small details. Roland walked in front of Stoltenberg as they left the Library. He tapped his hand against his head while scratching it, delivering a Morse code. Katsumi understood the message and started firing her sidearm at Stoltenberg which scratched him slightly before she started running. As Stoltenberg was distracted and on the floor taking cover, he dropped the file. Roland took the opportunity to peek at the file. It had a detailed report on the Liberty Navy’s Secondary Fleet Core. It also had a name: First Lieutenant Maryam Khatami. Roland put the file back on the floor before he helped Stoltenberg up, who promptly told him to go after Katsumi, not knowing she was working with Roland.
Roland made sure Katsumi had escaped, which didn’t take much since she managed to do that quite well herself. But her face was seen and she was definitely compromised. A common criminal would’ve been caught. She wasn’t.
It was time for Roland to put on a show. “Where has your investigation gotten with the corrupt LSF bastards you promised me?! She was probably sent by them to take care of me!” Stoltenberg became confused. “I thought they took care of your death, in Kusari.” He retorted. “It appears they know you’re alive. You were probably detected in one of your missions to Liberty or Rheinland.” Roland had operated in both Houses and confirmed to Stoltenberg that the corrupt LSF officers were probably at Rheinland and had come to known he was still alive. Stoltenberg assured that they would be taken care of this time.
The first time he made that assurance, he simply said whatever he needed to get Roland to switch sides for Rheinland. But if the LSF officers had found him here, then they were perhaps far more resourceful then he realised.
Meanwhile, Roland needed to make sure that nothing happened to Katsumi. She was Stoltenberg’s only link to the fictional corrupt LSF officers that were made to get Roland into the hands of the BDM as a double agent.
Roland contacted the LSF as soon as he could; he had already begun setting up regular meetings with Katsumi who then relayed the information back to the LSF. Stoltenberg had begun what amounted to a small, secret war on New Tokyo. BDM agents stationed at the Rheinland embassy on the planet began assassinating several LSF officers and left very little evidence for the Kusari State Police to determine the origin of the attacks. Multiple groups of assassins, some of them mercenaries, had performed hit and run attacks on known LSF agents and stole whatever information they had on them. They then returned to the embassy or a safe house taking different, uncommonly used routes to cover their tracks.
Stoltenberg was vigorously searching for Banks and Nixon, whom he was led to believe had framed Roland as a corrupt LSF officer. Roland had already relayed this information to the LSF and Banks and Nixon were put into hiding; even Roland didn’t know where they were. Katsumi on the other hand refused the offer to be hidden so as to protect Roland’s identity and her life. She took a ‘hiatus’ and returned to her sisters in the Golden Chrysanthemums.
During their meeting at the Ring over Planet New Berlin, Roland had gotten a glimpse of the file Stoltenberg was carrying when Katsumi launched her ambush in the hallways. It was a dossier on a Secondary Fleet Core of the Liberty Navy and had mentioned one name: First Lieutenant Maryam Khatami. Upon investigation, the LSF had determined she was an intelligence asset working as an informant for the BDM. Surveillance operations had spotted her meeting with Rheinlandic individuals in both public and secluded areas of Planet Manhattan and Planet Los Angeles. Her associates were then followed as well. Roland had just scored a big win for the LSF.
Within a month, a significant portion the intelligence network that was weaved around Officer Maryam Khatami of the SFC was rounded up by the LSF. These individuals were interrogated in several locations through Liberty and then charged with conducting espionage for a foreign nation, amongst other accusations. Stoltenberg had suffered a huge blow and his little game of assassinations in New Tokyo wasn’t getting anywhere. The information collected from dead LSF agents was of little importance and the LSF had begun to hit back. Transparency was reduced at the LSF station in New Tokyo so the BDM had a harder time finding out who the LSF agents were at the Liberty Embassy at Kusari. Furthermore, the LSF retaliated with their own assassins, cutting down BDM agents and hired mercenaries. BDM assets were being reduced in Kusari and Stoltenberg was using up too many resources chasing after the ‘ghosts’ of Nixon and Banks.
A bar at Heisenberg Research Station, Koeln System
Stoltenberg had scheduled a meeting with Roland at the station to discuss his next time assignment. The atmosphere was jubilant, a Hessian had just proposed to a Bundschuh woman who said yes, but only a few scientists weren’t distracted from their conversations regarding their research.
As Roland had expected, removing an important asset of Stoltenberg would make Roland more likely to be that asset’s replacement. “Relations between Kusari and Rheinland are improving rapidly. We share common enemies and have common…allies. Due to our newfound cooperation, the Kusari State Police forwarded this report to me.” Stoltenberg handed over a document to Roland. “Are you ready to move up the food chain?” Stoltenberg had asked with a wry smile. Roland didn’t know what to make of it. The document showed a woman who looked like Katsumi travelling into the Hokkaido system. Did Stoltenberg know she was with the LSF? Was his cover blown? “This is the woman who attempted to have you killed last month. I took the Liberty of sending in a few agents to tail her. She has a basic routine which means you should be able to take her out since we’ve figured out her schedule. We know exactly where she goes and when.” Roland was speechless. He knew Stoltenberg might find her, she had refused LSF protection. “One of my agents approached her 3 weeks ago; she is now selling cardamine to the assassin.” Stoltenberg had clearly planned this through as he put his drink down and took off his coat. “You haven’t said anything yet, Roland.”
Roland was unaware if his cover was blown or not. He couldn’t tell is Stoltenberg was testing him, or if he genuinely thought this was the link they needed to find the fake individuals who had supposedly framed Roland. “We could capture her but she probably won’t know where those bastards are. They know how to keep their tracks covered; otherwise they wouldn’t have survived for so long.” He replied sternly. Stoltenberg took one more drink while scanning the bar with his eyes, subtly, before facing Roland again. “We have no intention of capturing her. You’re going to kill her and hopefully they’ll understand that they have to stay away from you. I can’t waste any more resources on this Roland. I’ve helped you enough, now it’s time for you to help me.” Roland picked up a cigarette, something he hadn’t done in a long time.
One Week Later…
Katsumi was travelling across the Hokkaido system but not to a predetermined destination. She was high out of her mind on cardamine and synthetic marijuana and wanted to experience the beauty of the nebula and the stars. Roland was sitting on his ship from a distance, contemplating what to do. “Katsumi…” He had contacted her on a secure and private channel. “Roland?! What are you doing here? I came here to be hidden away from you!” A slight slur affected her speech, and probably her capacity to consider the consequences of her actions. “Nevermind Roland, come here, I want to show you my old home.” She was being mischievous and giggled a little afterwards. Roland was still trying to figure out how far he would have to go to prove his loyalty to Stoltenberg. They docked on an unknown station. Rugged Kusari women carrying rifles began to point them at Roland, if not firing at him immediately. Katsumi had asked them to put their weapons down, or so Roland guessed; she was speaking Japanese and Roland couldn’t understand. He had his suspicions that this might be Ainu depot, but his scanners were jammed, so he’ll never know for sure.
Katsumi took him to her room. It was small but she made good use of the space provided. She was tired and she fell into her bed just as Roland remembered that the dose of cardamine she would be getting from the undercover BDM agent included sedatives to weaken her. “Roland…why are you here?” She asked with her eyes closed and an increased slur. “I’ve been sent to kill you.” “WHAT!?” She got up and pulled out her weapon, there wasn’t any slur anymore but the cardamine had heightened her senses, especially fear. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if he knows I’m LSF.” Roland didn’t care about having the gun pointed at him; he never had to question his moral choices thus far. “Then frame my death, don’t actually kill me, what’s wrong with you!?”
Once again, Katsumi had come up with a plan. They were going to head to Planet New Tokyo. Here, Roland was going to chase after her, disable her shields and then she would ‘accidentally’ crash the wing of her fighter into a nearby building and eject. The pod then would never be found again, Katsumi had the help of a few of her Golden Chrysanthemums who would remove her escape pod from New Tokyo and take it somewhere else. The Kusari State Police report would conclude that her eject button was damaged during the building crash and hence she could not eject her escape pod and was killed. Officially.
At least, that was how the plan was supposed to go.
“So it’s settled then? The MI-6 Section of the Bretonian Intelligence Services will construct and send 50 Class 10 guns over to the Chrysanthemum movement to be picked up between near the Yukawa Shipyard Lanes. We’ve captured a Samura transport so we’ll put the weapons in there and fix the transport with the correct IFF. The GC can then ‘ambush’ the transport, demand for the weapons, an undercover BIS agent who will be piloting our Samura craft will hand them over. It’ll look like you lot stole the damn materiel.”
“Perfect plan. You can apply for Interspace insurance too, haha.”
The war between Kusari and Bretonia had just begun. It was an open secret that the Bretonian government was covertly supplying the Golden Chrysanthemums in retaliation for covert Kusari support for the Gaian movement. The BIS and GC operatives had booked a private island at Curacao for the plans to be discussed and after 14 hours at the conference room, it was time to call it a day.
Katsumi was recently introduced to the Chrysanthemum movement. She was unlike most of the members of the Chrsanthemums, she came from a liberal, women’s rights respecting and arguably anglicised Kusari family. She was never abused by men but she still felt an unnerving duty to promote the rights of women in her home country, despite having spent most of her life outside of it. But she did not understand the Kusari way and her naiveté got her into trouble. During a protest at Roppongi Station, one of the few places where Kusari’s conservatism was under control, a member of the Hogosha spotted her and identified her as the protest leader. She was then arrested by the police who threatened her and her family. Her experience led her to join the Chrysanthemum movement, but she nonetheless remained wary about their terrorist activities.
Her training with the GC took her all the way to Curacao due to her exposure to Liberty and Bretonia growing up. She knew their customs, traditions and culture better than most GC and they utilised her as a diplomatic asset.
As she went back to her room, one of the BIS agents grabbed her. It was her ex, Neil. “Neil? What are you doing here?” She was confused and surprised to see her here. Things hadn’t ended well for them as she left him without saying a word. “I transferred from the Armed Forces to Intelligence after I heard you had become a terrorist…not something I expected” “It’s not that simple Neil…” She was saddened to see him, she never wanted to hurt him but she didn’t know how else to end it. She just wanted to leave him, and his deployments, and the war didn’t make anything easier. “Well, I’m here now, and I’m getting you out.” His was determined in his voice but he wanted to know more than anything, why she joined the GC. “I’m not leaving Neil, I joined by own free will. I protested, and then I was arrested for doing so. They threatened me and my family, I can’t just leave. I have to protect my own family and being with them is the only way I can do that.” “Bretonia can-” “No they can’t Neil, you know that better than anyone. Stop living in a fantasy world, this is real life!”
He slowly let her go and began to walk away. She asked him to stop but he ignored her. For him, it was time to move on. For her, it didn't matter. She had already decided her political ideals were more important than a man who she could replace.
Planet New Tokyo, the Present
Roland double checked to make sure his gun camera was on. Katsumi’s ship was directly below him and proceeded to dive. Katsumi was ‘surprised’ as per the plan and her wings were blown off. There were no duds or pre-placed explosives here, the shots were real and so was the damage to her ship. He needed to aim carefully, so she mostly flew in a straight line. Once her wings were blow off, she ejected from the ship and her pod landed in the river. 2 minutes later, Roland flew by the river but something wasn’t right. There were shots being fired down there, and a freighter was dropping off troops to the ground. The Chrysanthemums hadn’t requisitioned a freighter for this operation. It was definitely the BDM. Stoltenberg was intervening.
He landed his vessel near the river and got his sidearm before proceeding onward. Roland used the bushes and trees, moving from cover to cover. Once he got to the crash site, the firing had stopped. Stoltenberg was there with a contingent of marines. Most of the GC had been killed but a few were taken prisoner, including Katsumi. Stoltenberg surveyed the area before he noticed Roland hiding behind a tree. “Good, you’re just in time.” He stated while turning back to Katsumi. “Roland I’ve had my agents following you and I’m not impressed. They’re telling me that you’re not who you say you are.” Roland’s heart began to beat faster; he had his sidearm ready just in case. “So it’s time for you to prove your identity. You’re going to kill her yourself and prove my agents wrong.” It wasn’t getting any easier for Roland. He looked at Katsumi and she shared a look back. It was time for her to go, and she was okay with that. She knew what she was getting into when this started, she wanted to die for this. But this wasn’t what Roland had signed up for.
Katsumi stared at Roland as he walked towards her, breathing heavily from her bleeding nose and mouth. Roland moved in behind her to perform his reluctant execution. Suddenly, at the last moment, Katsumi changed her mind. She didn’t want to die; she wanted to have children, a normal life. She wanted to be away from this horror. She closed her eyes hard to stop the tears from flushing out but that just made it worse. She wished she could be in love, one last time before it all ended. She began to secretly hope Roland would change the direction of his gun and shoot Stoltenberg and his marines instead. It helped her from losing her mind, it was all she had left to believe.
But a moment later, she lost the ability to think. Her head hit the ground hard with her tears still coming out of her lifeless body. An ice cold gush of air blew through Roland’s heart. Life was getting more and more meaningless. Things stopped mattering completely. He wasn’t feeling anything, as the woman who saved his life more than once was dead by his bullet. A Chrysanthemum prisoner began to wail as she grabbed the grenade of a marine and set it to explode. In her last moments, that chrysanthemum screamed as loud as she could before she and the marine became flying flesh. In the confusion, the remaining marines executed the Chrysanthemum prisoners still alive, but Roland stood where he was, disregarding the bullets flying past him, staring at Stoltenberg, breathing as few breaths as he could.
“Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot.”
– Niccolo Machiavelli
“Roger that Silver-Black-14, you have clearance to dock, over.”
A BAF Battleship jumped into the Tau 31 system with a convoy carrying supplies to Planet Harris. In this bygone era, the Bretonians were running the blockade set up at Tau-31 by the KNF. Katsumi was informed about the jump and she sneaked into the system and docked with the battleship. She was to meet her contact here. As of late, she had begun to work more as an intelligence asset/spy for the BIS then she did as a terrorist/freedom fighter for the Chrysanthemums.
She headed over to the BIS office at the battleship where she met an old friend. “Alice! It’s so good to see you again!” She said while enjoying a big hug with the BIS officer who had trained her. “We’ve got an important matter to discuss Katsumi, I’d love to chat but we’ll just have to do that another time, the battleship is going to jump soon once the convoy has delivered the supplies..” “Okay Alice, I understand, let’s get to work.” A man in the room wearing a peacoat looked away from the window of the battleship and joined in the conversation the two women were having. “Katsumi, this is John Major, he’s with the LSF. He’ll brief you on the details.” Katsumi and Major shook hands before they took their seats. Katsumi was wondering what was so important about this meeting, she had never met an LSF agent before although she knew they openly worked with freelancers. But she was a Golden Chrysanthemum, addicted to cardamine and marijuana, what could they possibly want from her? She was under the protection of the BIS after all.
“The Council are reporting massive ship movements throughout the Gallic border worlds. The formations match that of the Gallic Royal Navy, and Council intelligence has confirmed its them. They may be launching a major attack at the Council, and although Liberty and Bretonia aren’t openly supporting them right now, we are covertly feeding whatever supplies we can to them. We need someone on our side with them however, but it can’t be obvious. That’s where you come in Miss Katsumi, you’re of Kusari descent but trained by the BIS, so we need you to head to-” “ALL MEN REPORT TO BATTLESTATIONS IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!”
Suddenly the ships shields beamed up as it began absorb the shockwaves of the shells it was taking from the hostiles. Katsumi ran to the window, and noticed a symbol she had only seen a few times over the past year. Alice and John looked at each other before they grabbed Katsumi and ran from the office. Meanwhile outside, several squadrons of BAF fighters and bombers were launching as Gallic snub craft swooshed over them. They were outnumbered 3 to 1, but the BAF needed to hold out long enough to be able to recharge their jump drive. Katsumi, Alice and John ran to the docking bay, whatever happened, they needed to leave unscathed.
For a moment, John stopped running, he had an epiphany. There was no way they were going to get out, they were outnumbered, outgunned and outflanked. Alice ran into the docking bay when the emergency door closed right before Katsumi could get there, who bumped into the door. The shields were down, and Alice gave one last look at Katsumi with the saddest face on her, before she waved goodbye. Katsumi struggled to open the door, even with her nails if she had to. But it was too late, a massive explosion followed by the sound of another boom consumed Alice. The docking bay was gone. Katsumi stood there, dumbfounded, confused, scared and clueless with her jaw hanging out and tears covering her eyes. John wasted no time and grabbed her once again and ran to the other docking bay. But Katsumi resisted and let go of him, and ran back to the docking bay that was no more. “She’s gone Katsumi, you need to come with me if you want to live.” He extended his hand to her as she turned back. With a blank and tearful face, she asked: "Do I have a choice?"
Meanwhile, within a few hours, KNF units began reporting in that they were coming under attack, as did the Colonial Military. They only knew vaguely that this was the Gallic Royal Navy. It was the opening hours of the Battle for the Taus which began the war between Bretonia and Gallia, and created the Kusari Exiles.
Present day, Planet New Berlin
Roland had never been more determined in his life. There was no emotion involved; he just needed to get the job done. He was inside Stoltenberg’s office, a safe house. Hours ago, he cut off communications with the LSF after sending in an extraction request. The LSF Station at New Tokyo promptly handed over his case to Alert Station command at Ellesmere, who organised a team to retrieve him. He went against orders, he knew what he was doing would completely destroy his cover, but it would destroy Stoltenberg too. He was meant to become a long term intelligence asset inside the BDM, staying in there for years, feeding the LSF information, but Roland had had enough. It was time for him to go home and rethink his choices. He didn’t care if his actions put him on death row, not as long as the fake evidence he was planting suggested that Stoltenberg was an LSF intelligence asset, and a traitor to Rheinland. He had no problem dying now, just so long as the man who put him in this situation died with him.
Stoltenberg was none the wiser. He was falsely convinced of Roland's loyalty to him after he shot Katsumi just a week before. He had come to respect the man as someone who was capable of doing whats necessary despite his own objections. Roland did not shy away from taking advantage of Stoltenberg's trust. It was the only weakness he was capable of exploiting.
He stood in front of his transmission screen, speechless and shocked. Stoltenberg began to pack his luggage. He had to make preparations in case the worst happened. It wasn't just him. His family was on the line too.
Five Minutes earlier, Stoltenberg had just awoken after a hefty sleep. He dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom and began brushing his teeth tiredly while going through his Neural Net for any new transmissions or messages. There was just one, from BDM Internal Affairs, which confused him. He opened the transmission and began to watch what the BDM Internal Affairs agent had to say.
(08-22-2013, 06:28 PM)EisenSeele Wrote: ENCRYPTION: PL07 D3V1C3 COMMID:Flotillenadmiral Siegfried, BDM| U-Flotte LOCATION:BDM|RNC-Brynhildr, Mephistopheles Class 007 Production Type Cruiser, BDM|U- Forward Operating Base
Abend, Inspektor Stoltenberg.
Your operational reports have been received by the internal auditing board. First and foremost, I would like to commend your actions on New Tokyo several weeks prior. The detection and elimination of an enemy spy is among the most difficult of our occupational mandates – and the neutralization of the LSF asset known only as 'Katsumi' was handled in a most efficacious and tasteful fashion. With regards to the affair concerning your asset fostered in Roland, we have found minor discrepancies between your reports and our own routine investigations. As a matter of technicality, we would like to interview you in order to reconcile any inconsistencies for... archival purposes. As of now, you are temporarily relieved of your duties, and your projects are on hold until this interview has been conducted. As per standard procedure, you are to wait in your designated domicile on New Berlin for transport.
REPORT COMPLETE
FLOTILLENADMIRAL SIEGFRIED, KAI - BDM| EXTENDED LOGISTICS DIVISION
“Archival purposes” was complete bull**** Stoltenberg thought. He quickly dressed and sent a short reply to the transmission telling them he was on his way. The transmission was well sugar-coated. The average citizen is considered to be innocent until proven guilty. For spies, they’re innocent until their ‘under investigation’ by their respective internal affairs agencies.
He went straight to his safe house at New Berlin first. He had a specific way of contacting Roland in order to make sure the transmissions between each other were never hacked. The risk was too high considering those rogue LSF agents wanted him dead. As soon as he got to the safe house to leave a message for Roland to pick up, he noticed something different on his desk. There was a computer screen open showing Stoltenberg’s dossier. But this wasn’t his usual dossier. As he read through his new dossier, it listed a number of crimes he had supposedly committed. Among them was treason. There was a link to a report which suggested Stoltenberg was an intelligence asset for the LSF, and that Roland was his commanding officer. It also detailed how Stoltenberg supposedly allowed Roland to escape Rheinland by arranging an LSF extraction team to pick him up at Bremen. None of this was true but the dossier showed hard evidence, (faked) transmissions by Stoltenberg to the LSF and countless other incriminating material. He looked around the room and began feeling through the walls for anything suspicious. He found 7 fibre optic cameras, cameras so small they couldn’t be seen by the naked eye. He went back to the computer. Roland was the double agent. He arranged this himself.
He looked at the situation grimly. He had to think of his family first. The state would certainly come after them once he was charged with treason and the BDM sends out a burn notice to all other government departments and agencies in Rheinland (notably the RM and the RFP). He flew to his parent’s mountainside villa on the other side of the planet. As timezones changed, it became midnight once he reached there. After the formal pleasantries of meeting and greeting with ones parents after an extended period of time, months in this case, he sat down with his father while his mother prepared some midnight snacks.
The old but energetic and wise businessman leaned forward to his son, Erich. “What’s wrong Erich, something is disturbing you. Your mother has the same look whenever she’s having a bad day.” “Father, I need to move you and mother out of Rheinland immediately and I can’t have mother asking why.” While his father knew he worked for the BDM, he kept this information from his mother knowing she would disapprove. “I’m sending a transport here. It should arrive here after I leave, I won’t be staying for long. A friend of mine will take you and mother to New London. My old Professor will harbour you there. He’s the one coming on the transport. He’ll have fake identities ready for you. I suggest you start transferring your money to credit cards so that the government doesn’t freeze your bank account through the Neural Net.” “Erich, what you’re talking about is not what I expected when you entered this line of work…” “I know it sounds terrible father, but this is just the reality we have to live with, and I promise you it is only temporary.” “I’m not going to ask your mother to give up her life here and move to New London without a proper reason!” His father’s rage resonated throughout the house. His mother heard the commotion, but didn’t know what they were talking about. Stoltenberg took a deep breath and sighed while facing away from his father. Unsure of whether to tell him or not. He concluded he had no choice. “The government is about to charge me with treason based on faked evidence planted against me. I know who did this, and I’m going to leave Rheinland to find the man who did this so I can prove my innocence. That it is the only way my name will be cleared. I need you to leave for your own safety in case the Buro comes after you and mother, to get to me.”
His father was shocked and full of anger at his son, not sure whether to believe him or not. He was mostly angry that his son had allowed himself to get into this position of weakness. But for now, time was running out. Bother father and son began to transfer their money into credit cards so that their movements couldn’t be tracked. It was unsafe, especially if they lost the credits cards, they would lose all their money.
But they both knew that being out of jail was worth the risk of being robbed.
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