Victor Franks had just arrived on Planet Baden Baden. He was on holiday after the negotiations. It had been recommended by the quorum based on the circumstances. He had already spent two days here and most of the people he met were Liberty citizens.
He stretched in front of the mirror in the hotel. It was a hot day. He would enjoy the bar later on after taking care of some personal business. He was already dressed so he grabbed his hotel card and his bag and strode out the door.
Victor Franks was an old man enjoying the serenity of the place. He thought to himself how he had seen it all. He knew he would never die quietly.
He pushed all his business-like thoughts out of his head. He had arrived where he needed to. A red steel box with a slot just a block down from his hotel. It was here that he posted an envelope to an old friend; he would need this friend's help.
The envelope hit the 27 letters underneath it in the post box with a wisp of noise. It would be collected in one hour and twenty three minutes by Jason Brunhild a postal worker who worked on the Western Face resort of Orbital Spa & Cruise.
Jason Brunhild delivered the envelope that Victor Franks had posted to the postal sorting office 15 minutes away from the post box where he collected it.
One of the edges had been crinkled in transit.
Brunhild's boss was out for lunch, so he and Hilda Schweringer had to sort out the letters by themselves. This was a usual occurrence.
The letter was stamped and placed in a bag with a GPS marker. It was outbound from the planet, just like every other letter in the room.
Thirteen hours exactly later the transport Volupsa was carrying the letter in it's hold, in a sealed compartment, inside a bag, inside an envelope. The crinkle in the envelope had become more pronounced with the handling.
Twenty three hours and fifty seven minutes after the Volupsa left Planet Baden Baden the sealed compartment where the letters were held suffered a security breach. It was a minor thing. This transport's cargo was low security. The flashing light on the bridge was assumed to be a fault in the wiring.
Junior Engineer Karloff Seran came to the bridge and reported as such. The letter was stuffed into his left breast pocket in his flight suit. It had developed another crinkle.
Victor Franks sat in a reclining sun chair by the pool. He sipped from his iced tea glass frequently. The ice cubes in the glass crackled as they should, and the condensed water slid down the glass. Three hours had passed since he posted the letter.
The Volupsa landed on Planet Hamburg. It had been thirty seven hours and fourty one minutes since it left Planet Baden Baden.
Karloff Seran left eagerly to spend his pay in the bar. Or so everyone thought. He left the spaceport area and ventured deeper into Hamburg. To a less surveyed place. He went into a dingy bookshop, picked up an old book of fables and paid the owner of the shop and left. The letter had left his being.
Back on the transport, the XO of the ship was berating the Captain about not checking to see whether an actual fault in the wiring had occurred and not to just rely on a junior engineer's knowledge.
The owner of the bookshop was called the bookkeeper by many. He pulled out a book from the shelf and a locking mechanism released. The shelf swung inward. The shop had been closed after Seran left. A short encrypted pulse transmission was intercepeted leaving Hamburg.
Rheinland intelligence knew someone had just transmitted a highly encrypted message within their territory. They were most displeased. They suspected Liberty's involvement. This was far from the truth.
On the desk of someone very important in Sirus a piece of paper containing a decrypted transmission arrived. In it were the contents of the letter. The very important someone read it and issued a command.
The command was colloquial and coded. To anyone else, all it said was to activate her. Nothing else. Approximately three minutes and thirty eight seconds later, Operation Dis went into effect.
The Akiyama business flourished on Planet Honshu. It was the oldest profession in all time, at least on the face of it. Many men would visit it from many worlds. It was not high class enough that the noblemen of Kusari used it, but it was reputable enough, especially amongst the transport pilots who frequently traded with the ports on the planet.
It intercepted a short burst pulse transmission. More importantly, it was here that this message was decrypted. The Kempeitai thought they heard something, but it was so faint that it was dismissed by Shishio Takuma aboard the Kusari Destroyer Arakai just outside Planet Honshu. He was looking forward to getting this fortnight's pay to spend on getting air-conditioning all through his apartment.
The hostess lady of the brothel left her desk and traversed through the brothel. She was heading to the back of the establishment, past the kitchen to a room with a fat man inside. This man read the decrypted transmission that she pulled out of her kimono. He read it and nodded. Three minutes later the hostess lady was back behind her desk. Five minutes after this a girl was in front of her. Thirty seven minutes later this girl left the building discreetly, just as everyone else did. No-one saw her.
Just one minute after this girl left, another one left, but this one left from a building across the road. Another operation had been activated. Operation Lens was to be activated if Dis ever went active.
No-one saw this girl either. In this place, no-one really looked, but more importantly, no-one talked. In this place, the criminals were less corrupt than the police.
Both girls were heading to the same place. This was a given, considering one was tailing the other. It was a place close by, where everyone in the area dreamed of heading to one day. A beacon of hope for the desolate. For anyone else it was just another spaceport.
Anyone who could see things from an absolute frame of reference would be astounded. The second girl stopped following the first and both appeared to split for their own transports. It just so happened that someone was viewing things from an absolute frame of reference. Mathew Talence had been hired to be the eyes and mouth of the frame. He did not care much for the job. He just needed the credits and the job was going to pay him enough to buy himself a small freighter. He was looking at the Bactrian to get his money's worth.
One transport was leaving for Rheinland core space. It was carrying refined ores for the industry there. They needed ship workers to load and unload ore. One worker had all their paperwork in order and turned up on time for the job. Five were late. Three did not show up. Two died before turning up. Of course, one of the dead did turn up, otherwise the numbers would not add up. Or at least, someone pretending to be them did. The first one died of an infection caught whilst they were out in the Omicrons. The second would be discovered nineteen hours after the Akapusa transport had left the spaceport.
Another transport was leaving for the Omegas. An obscure contract was being honoured and supplies were being shipped to an Independent Miner's Guild asset. No-one really wanted to be part of the crew to the Omegas. It was a dangerous area of space, and the transport had been delayed by three days already. The second girl's application to join the crew along with stunning credentials she could provide had the Captain scratching his head, but he did not care because he would take all the help he could get. And so the Hikishi Maru left the spaceport, three days and thirteen hours behind schedule.
Up in his absolute frame, Mathew Talence reported what both girls did in a small note. Once outside the spaceport he went lower into the city, to the place he was told to go. A false brick in the wall was pulled out, the note was shoved in hurriedly, and the brick replaced. Only two people saw this even take place. One was Mathew Talence. The other was one going under the guise of Ichigo Tsukumura with appropriately and accurately forged papers.
It had been fourty one hours and three minutes since the letter was posted by Victor Franks.
Ichigo Tsukumura was the second biggest player in the plot to assassinate Victor Franks; for Victor Franks was two things to Ichigo Tsukumura, and one of them was a competitor.
Tsukumura removed the note from the false brick, used a small tube of liquid expanding concrete on one face of it, and stuck it back in place in the wall. This dead drop would never be used again. Tsukumura did not bother to read the note. He only paid Mathew Talence to evaluate his suitability. Talence was marked as a potential and his name would be filed for use in the future.
Another ship left the spaceport. A kingfisher of ill repute made it's way out to the stars. It headed to the Omicrons. It would reach it's destination in a few days. On board, Ichigo Tsukumura sighed for the paperwork that awaited him. Before this fighter would reach home though, two transports which left from the port hours earlier would reach their destination.
On the second day of it's journey, the Akapusa would hit a small freighter which had been traveling behind it due to a tradelane failure. The freighter was newly registered so the Captain of the Akapusa did not bother to fuss over the slight shield damage. Another reason was that he could hear the Captain of the freighter break down over the comms about how he wasn't paid enough to repair his ship. A routine in-space internal inspection of the ship had to take place though, for the Akapusa followed protocol. This delayed it's journey by a few hours. The freighter battled on, with damage towards it's unknown destination.
The Akapusa touched down on The Ring and the girl which signed on left the vessel calmly. Thirty minutes later, she left in an Eagle heading towards Stuttgart. The Captain of the Akapusa would wonder after her in two hours time, and receive the news of the actual dead crewman in Honshu in three. The incident would be filed, but not investigated. The memory of the incident would fade from the Captain's memory in time.
Around the same time the Eagle entered Stuttgart, the Hikishi Maru would touch down in Omega 3. If Mathew Talence had been hired once more he would see from his absolute frame a showdown set to take place in the Omegas. However, he was in the Sigmas cursing his lack of credits, and damaged Bactrian freighter. The Omicrons seems obliquely far to him as per the events that had taken place.
The second girl left the Hikishi Maru and stepped on board a small postal freighter headed to a holiday destination frequented by Liberty citizens in Rheinland. The Captain did not wonder after her, for it was a simple contract. One freelance job. He was too busy trying to evaluate the dozens of applications for crewman wanting to get off the base and willing to travel anywhere else.
Through the window in his hotel room, Victor Franks watched the sun begin to set. He had watched quite a few sunsets during his time here and instead of taking in the sight before him once more, he wondered about his letter which he had posted ninety seven hours previously.
The girl in the Eagle joined up as part of the Jeetzel convoy, as the Rheinland super-transport's hired escort services. It was a short, reasonably safe trip to escort a supply ship heading to a planet which was heavily invested in by Orbital Spa and Cruise.
The supply convoy had made it's destination successfully. The girl in the Eagle obtained landing permissions from the docking ring controller, and proceeded to head down to the planet's main facility which catered for all space-farers.
Very near the spaceport was the holiday resort. It's purpose was to attract people who landed to stay, and it worked. At least, it was partially true in the case of the girl from the Eagle, as she appeared to be heading to the resort.
She walked past the resort counter unseen by the dozing nightman and the porter distracted by the stunning cars that were parked outside the hotel. There were elevators, but she took the stairs. Her low-cut heels clicked firmly, but not loudly and she made it to the seventh floor effortlessly and unseen.
The door of room one hundred and one was opened silently and a silenced pistol was drawn. Victor Franks opened his eyes and stared at his assassin and smiled. The girl did not understand and she was perplexed. She never had this reaction any assassination before.
"Good luck." Franks last words would echo forever long, for it's target would never be known.
The Akiyama assassin barely whispered the words she was meant to say before she pulled the trigger and a bullet burrowed itself in Frank's head. "I strike you down as a sacrifice for The Quorum."
She had barely holstered her pistol when she felt something pierce her abdomen. She fell to her knees and felt her body not respond to her mind. A dart had paralysed her and all she could do was move her head.
"Ohayou Gozaimasu Mio. Hisashiburi." The assassin knew the language, but more importantly she recognised the voice.
"Tsu..." Mio, the assassin, almost completely paralysed knew exactly who had attacked her.
"Shhhhh." Tsumugi Kotobuki, the girl who had been following the assassin all the way from the brothel in Kusari bent down and stroked her head affectionately. "Do not worry, it is just a muscle relaxant. I'm not here to kill you."
"Why..." Mio's mind was reeling. Her childhood friend who she loved with all her heart, the one that broke her heat when she moved far away, was holding her gently, after shooting her.
"You have been chosen. You were meant for greater things. I've been watching you since I found you and now I've come to collect you. Like we promised." Tsumugi had tears in her eyes, thinking of the lifestyle which her friend had been forced to live.
"A thousand needles..." Mio was completely delirious and the memory of that promise in days of her childhood were playing over in her mind.
"I will explain it when we get back, but for now, we are out of here." Tsumugi wiped her eyes and shot Mio with a complete sedative which knocked her out instantly.
Five minutes later, if anyone was noticing, the new cleaning lady, which had just been hired that day was heading home with her cleaning trundle three hours before her shift ended.
Thankfully, no-one was watching. Even if they were, they never would have guessed that the body of a young woman was contained within the trundle.
A burst transmission was sent from Planet Baden Baden. Rheinland intelligence again knew someone had just transmitted a highly encrypted message within their territory. They remained displeased, but as much in the dark as before.
The burst transmission was received on Corinth Research Station in Omicron 74. Sebastien Coen logged it and called over one of his secretaries.
"Have you finished the letter of approval for Mathew Talence?" Coen spoke tiredly.
"Yes, I have sent it to the quorum for final approval." The secretary responded.
"Right." He scrunched up his hand. It had forged identification papers in it. He loosened his grip on them and moved his hand towards his secretary. "Put this away for me, I doubt I will need it for a while."
"Where do you want me to put it Sir?" The secretary developed a perplexed look on her face.
"The only drawer over there that's open. You'll notice it will match with the papers I gave you." Coen sighed. He knew he expected too much intelligence from those around him, and he knew that this secretary was new and not used to him.
"Anyway, I got the news I wanted. I am done." Coen left the room and went for his evening jog, just as his schedule said he would.
The secretary noted the label on the drawer and the name on the forged identification papers before putting it away in the drawer. She then turned off the light and left the private room to head towards her own room.
The secretary was perplexed by Coen's behaviour. "I have no idea who Ichigo Tsukumura is, or why he would want to impersonate him."
Sebastien Coen thought on the events that had occurred in his head. He was sad for the loss that Sirius would not even hear about. "Victor Franks was two things to him. One was a competitor. The other was a friend."
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