Part of the job

Logistics Section, interoffice encrypted communication.

Classified: YES

Level: S-

Destination: 3-1-L Logistics.

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[Security Classification: SCI Theta +]

[Special Compartment ID: N/A]

[Outer Algorithm Category: K1]

[Inner Algorithm Category: LV]

[Primary Encryption Key: eb040dec329f6461fb8cbdac4b75cba1]

[Signatory Encryption Key: 2f6aa1d4c96cb9378156eaa2ffdfe97c]

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Fr: Colonel S. Kawanishi - Retired 

To:  General M. Thirboldt - Logistics Command, Rim Sectors

CC: General C. Silvermane - AUP Marines

CC: LiOff B. Lionheart- Department of State, Colonial Development Section

General Thirboldt,

While I have filed this report through standard channels, I have also, due to the time sensitive nature of the situation, chosen to forward this to you directly.  I believe the information and recommendations herein are directly relevant to the operation and reputation of your Regional Logistics command.  General Silvermane and Liaison Officer Lionheart can attest to the veracity and relevance of my reporting.

Shortly after the opening of Dragon's Egg to new settlement, the Department of State and Blue Sun, as the colony's sponsor, enlisted Cerberus Security to provide local security and defense to the new colony.  While many of the colonists were survivors of the Hale's Moon terraforming disaster, it was considered appropriate to engage a PMC to provide security in lieu of the colonists forming a local militia.

After some disputes regarding payment, contract obligations, and conduct, Cerberus Security reneged on their contract.  This, in of itself, would normally just entail arbitration and a footnote in their file.  However, Cerberus Security subsequently turned on the colony, going so far as to attempt a blockade of the main settlement. [[See reports: SPO-55391-A and SPO-55426-C for further detail]] 

While General Silvermane has offered to dispatch a Company strength unit from the 1st Marine Raiders to protect the colonists, Blue Sun, as the colony sponsor, with the support of DoS-CDS, will be dealing with the issue directly in their own way.  

It is my official recommendation, both as an UAP Officer and a member of the colony's local advisory board, to formally remove Cerberus Security's certification as an Authorized PMC for all future Alliance Military Assistance and Local Security contracts.

It is one thing for a PMC to dispute their contract.  It is another matter entirely for them to turn on the civilian population they were hired to protect.  Whether the organization faces criminal charges for their actions will be up to Justice.  I am more concerned with the prospect of them being in a position to so poorly represent the Alliance in the future.

Thank you for your consideration,

Colonel S. Kawanishi

[MACHash: e097e1136dc79bc1149e32a8a6bde5ef]

[EOL]

Stepping away

My dislike of Mercenaries is well known.  My dislike of a certain, specific, mercenary group is also well known.  When they were shown the door after abandoning their contract, I was more than a little amused.  In fact, I was actually quite pleased with the development.  They were gone and we would no longer have to deal with their ass clownery.

That was, until they came back.

I should have known they would come back and interfere somehow, like trying to blockade the port facility or something equally stupid.  But their half assed-blockade wouldn't last.  The only question was whether Blue Sun would send in assets to deal with it, or whether the Alliance would divert a passing Patrol Frigate to clean up the mess.

In either case, the mercenaries would get their collective asses handed to them and, with any luck, would find their gene pool had been rather thoroughly chlorinated.  Regardless, it wasn't my problem.  I had places to be and even with one of their idiot pilots shooting at me, they were going to do little more than scratch the paint on my boat.

I'd bill them for it later.  Actually, I wouldn't.  I'd extract it from their funds somewhere along the line, though with their impending demise it seemed prudent to charge their existing accounts rather than put a lien against future contracts.  I had a feeling that there wouldn't be many future contracts.  In fact, once I took care of some personal matters I would put some effort into assuring the best contract they got was playing security guards to Uncle Ramsey's Traveling Medicine Show and Petting Zoo.

Amazing what happens to your contract base when all of the references list your performance as "Tāmen màorán bǐ hóuzi qiú" and the reviewers say "I ne budet nanimatʹ ikh dlya zashchity ot musornoy svalki."  Which was probably better than if I pursued my much deeper desire involving Haiku and a power stapler.  No, adding them to the list with Niska would have to suffice.

Annoyeth not a dragon.
For they are mysterious beasts, powerful and cranky.
And you are small and crunchy and taste good with Wasabi.

 Of course, even without my help the reputation they would gain for turning on their employer would more or less end it for them.  No one hires a mercenary unit with a reputation for betraying their clients.  No one.  Except the overwhelmingly desperate or the frightfully stupid.  This one they'd done themselves.  No need to intervene to assure their destruction.  Though there was no harm in helping the process, was there?

They, though, were not why I was stepping away from Dragon's Egg for a brief spell.

As I have every year since it happened, I am taking some time to pay respects to Caitlin's memory.  I always said a prayer for her on the anniversary of her death.  I suspect I always will.  My first true love.  My first tragic loss.  The event colored my decisions for years and led me down the path that brought me here.  The Ice Queen was born with her death, with dire consequences.

Where I had created a small Shinto shrine for the purpose on Hale's, and salvaged it when we evacuated, I'd never set it up here on Dragon's Egg.  Now, a month after the anniversary, it was time to find a proper place for it on this still near-pristine world.  Her memory deserved it. And, on some level, Dragon's Egg probably needed it.

The advantage on Dragon's Egg over Hale's Moon was the relative size of the world.  Where Hale's had been a marginally suitable moon, slightly below the minimum size for gravetic compression terraforming, Dragon's Egg was considered a full size world.  There were places I could go far, far, from the main colony and scattered settlements where I could place the shrine in peace and spend a few days with myself and her memory.

The O shiri no piero could look for me, but they'd never find Wave Equation on the ground.  The last thing they'd seen was my boat burning for orbit, leaving them in my wake.  They may have considered the possibility I'd turned and re-entered atmo on the far side, but their dorogaya igrushka grade sensor suite wouldn't have much chance of finding me.  Which was just how I wanted it.

You think you have won
We do not fight the same war
You will learn in time

Streaming reality

Once I got used to correcting the data streams on the fly and got my algorithms in place, covering for Lily's 'unacceptable' data became a manageable task, if not entirely routine.  Of course, It didn't hurt that I was able to tap a resource that was frighteningly good at manipulating numbers in real time.  Not that I had her doing it for me directly.  No. Just a few quick algorithms that would do the job I needed done and would run within the limits of the hardware I had at hand.

With the Lily situation more or less under control, I could turn some attention back to my own projects.  Not that my crew wasn't able to continue on their own.  They were capable and I'd trained them well.  I just wanted to be involved more.  Routine didn't really suit me.

I did have a number of irons in the fire, of course.  We were still gathering incriminating evidence against Niska.  At least incriminating evidence that was useful to our cause, rather than specific evidence the Justice Department would be interested in.  They weren't, after all, especially interested in Justice.  Just the Law and those it was written to benefit.  No.  Our interest in Niska and his operation were more subtle and more focused on his operations than any specific violations of Alliance or local laws.

On another side, we had our own counter-Intel operations.  We couldn't be especially effective if our project was widely known, so it behooved us to keep our operations as far below the radar as possible.  Which naturally lead to trying to get a twenty thousand meter view from down in the weeds.  Not impossible, but not especially easy.  But that was why the majority of our operation was SigInt rather than HumInt.  Can't stop the signal, or so the saying went.  And, where there was signal, we could tap into it with barely a whisper in the ether.

Listen.
Record.
Analyze.
Archive.

Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat.

I had live operatives, of course.  But not many, and only one or two who had any real idea who they worked for and what we did.  Unlike Mister Niska, for us, an individual Reputation was more of a Bad Thing(tm) than an asset.  For the organization, it was a different matter.  But that was more concerning making sure the information you sold was actually accurate, and secrets you were paid to keep stayed secret.  A task I had a unique perspective on from a previous life.

For the time being, we were just in Listen mode.  Tuned in to the ebb and flow of information through the 'Verse.  Measuring the data.  Scoping out the competition.  Developing sources and potential clients.  Learning how to scale to the volumes we were seeing.  It was taking time.  Perhaps more than I wanted it to.  But we knew going in what we were up against and how substantial the task was.

Of course, we weren't doing this cold.  People had been doing this for years and the Business Plan, such as it was, was familiar to anyone who reached management levels in any decent Intel organization. Processes and objectives I was well familiar with.

Work behind the scenes
As we build the perfect beast
Knowledge is power

And then the Mercenaries quit...

I've never pretended to like mercenaries.  They have their uses, sure.  A military force that can be deployed on short notice with little concern save the layout of coin.  They may not be cheap, but you're not having to worry about their long term care and feeding.  They're like construction workers, only in reverse.  Rather than coming in, putting up a structure, then leaving when the contract is over, they come in, tear down a structure or two, then leave when the contract is done.  Either way, once they've done the job, you don't really care what they do after that.

Though, to be sure, folk from the Carpenter's Craft Hall aren't likely to come back and shoot you later.  One of the several downsides of hiring mercenaries.  With no incentive save coin, there's little inherent trust and nothing to say they won't take a lucrative contract against you in the future.  Few will actually turn on an employer during a contract, as that would effectively destroy their reputation.  But once a job's finished?  It's accepted that they are free to take any contract they want.

Technically, I know why the Alliance hired Cerberus to provide security for Dragon's Egg and picked up the tab.  It was actually fairly common on the smaller Border and Rim colonies to hire Private Military Contractors to handle the day to day security duties where it was too expensive to deploy an actual Federal unit.  Some worlds, like Hale's Moon, had their own local Militia and Law, but they were the exception.   Dragon's Egg had a lot of folk who'd served in Hale's Militia, but they were willing to put up their guns and deal with something other than Reavers and a desert world trying to do them in.  Not that most of them didn't still have their arms, and a case or two of Blastite in the basement.

With the wedding and all, and looking after the feeds to keep Lily "useful," I hadn't been paying over much attention to the goings on surface side.  It came as a bit of a surprise, if not a shock, when Uncle Sobi sent a wave to inquire if I'd known whether Cerberus had actually dropped their contract, or whether their leader was just trying to get the unit fired for "Conduct not befitting a Security Officer."  Seemed Jet had gotten himself more than a little drunk and taken to threatening Sobi, Cody, Lily, and other patrons at The Signal.  Was proud of my little girl, how she handled it though.

I'd have to confirm the contract status officially with Lionheart, not that I couldn't extract the information myself.  It was polite to ask, and all.  But if they really had packed it up, we'd have a bit of a gap in coverage.  Blue Sun could easily, and likely would, dispatch a company security team to take over.  Thing was, the colony already felt too much like a Blue Sun company town.  Since KHI didn't have any assets here officially, I couldn't well call upon that resource.  Which left either seeing what we could do about reforming the local Militia and instating a Sheriff, or seeing if Lionheart could either hire on another security firm or convince District to put some Federals on the ground.

Fact was, a single Marshal could probably handle Law Enforcement for the whole colony, but he'd be hard pressed to fend off a real attack.  Though there were probably enough folk left with Militia training to deal with that, worse came to worse.

Just left a few questions hanging, and me without many answers.

Not short on ideas.  Just answers.

Dealings done

It's done.

Married.

Again.

If you had asked me even six months ago whether this would have happened, I'd have laughed.  Though, in truth, Simon and I had talked about getting married just to enhance our covers on Dragon's Egg. Then it was just for the cover.  Wouldn't even have had to sleep together - not that I'd have minded.  While Haley was adorable and snuggly, a Beagle was no substitute for a Person to keep you warm at night.  Besides.  She snores.

Simon, fortunately, doesn't snore.  But I knew that already.  There were a lot of things I could have known, but consciously chose not to.  I've had an extensive file on Simon for some time, left filed, safely encrypted, and unread, by choice.  When he started courting me I started compiling information but, as time went on, I came to the conclusion that he was actually serious about us and that some things were best left unknown.  Which is probably why his dress uniform was a bit of a surprise.

I'd known Simon was part of the Intel community all along, though I hadn't pressed to find out exactly which unit was home.  I knew it was Alliance, rather than criminal or Indie, but not whether it was LEO, or MilInt, or State, or one of the even more obscure branches.  It was probably in the file.  Though my own unit was deep enough that I'd have to have been actively looking to find it - and I wasn't actively looking into Simon's past.

When I saw him at the alter, a lot of things came together.  His dress uniform was impeccable, perfectly tailored, and authentic.  My Spook turned Gentleman Farmer was a Fleet officer, rather than Ground Forces as I was.  But he also ranked me.  Several grades, in fact.  Ranked Silvermane too.  And Taggart.  Fact was, he was awfully young to be an Admiral with that many pips.

No wonder Grandfather had been willing to go along.  Simon was a ranking officer from a well placed family.  While my folks had been willing to accept Sabrina because I loved her, I doubt they'd ever been able to reconcile my getting hitched to someone with a Frontier background.  Except Uncle Elsoph, who couldn't have cared less about her background.  He loved her because she understood what he was about.  With Simon, they saw it as marrying closer to my station.  Not that I cared about station, but I understood the concern.

Dragon's Egg's small church was about right for the ceremony.  There weren't a lot of people in attendance.  Mostly local friends and a few who dropped in when they heard the news.  Silvermane sent a team from her personal body guard unit to provide some unobtrusive security, since there was no way I was going to let those Cerberus obez'yan be my honor guard or provide security.  That their leader "tripped" and almost dumped cake on Simon's uniform kind of reinforced that decision.  Fortunately, he and his team didn't manage to ruin the event for anyone.

My girls were surprisingly well behaved, though I think Lily was a bit taken aback when she realized she wasn't the one getting married.  But at least Abby gave her the bouquet when she caught it.  She and AuroraBlue didn't fight in public at least.  That they were both there was a kindness.  Though I did miss x0x0, and would have been happy if someone from my family had actually been on hand to "give me away."  Though that would happen at the second ceremony, on Ariel, when it finally happened.

The thing was, the wedding was ultimately more for show and to give the folks on Dragon's Egg something to smile about.  I'd decided to go through with it and marry Simon in spite of any misgivings.  The Shepherd's ceremony was right shiny, actually.  Some pretty words.  Vows that, in some cases, almost made me giggle.  Us standing initially on the wrong side, in part because the first time I got hitched I was the one in the Uniform.  It was all good.  Everyone happy.  Even me.

We didn't stay over long at the reception.  Neither of us had time of a real honeymoon just yet.  Too much to do, too little time.  But the wedding night would be . . . interesting.   While I would have preferred to have our first night doing more than actually sleeping be before we were wed, I was willing to train him up right.  Just had to hope he had the stamina and enthusiasm to make up for a lack of experience.

More then for cover
Affection growing to love
Married once again

Weddings and other complications

Two days.

What is that old saying about not having enough time to do everything you need to get done?  Tak mnogo sdelatʹ i tak malo vremeni , chtoby sdelatʹ eto.  Simon's return to Dragon's Egg, not long after my own, has set things in motion I hadn't quite been prepared for.  Not that I couldn't adapt.  It was just some unexpected details.

The wedding was actually the simple part.  Never mind I hadn't quite gotten what I was hoping for.  I finally understood just why he'd been so reluctant to take me to bed.  At least for anything but actual sleep.  While we had quite different views on casual sex, as any of the Companions I'd enjoyed over the years could attest, I couldn't actually fault him for it.  He was a good man.  A Spook like me, but still, deep down, a good man.

The ceremony here would be small.  Not quite a drop in on New Vegas, but close.  The Shepherd would officiate and we'd have at least one official witness.  Not that the legalities of it would be in question.  We could deal with that with a gesture or three.  There'd probably be another one on Ariel to satisfy my folks, much like the last time.  Only this time I'd be wearing the dress.  Simon's Grandmother's wedding gown, in fact.  Evidently on its way and already recut for me, though I have to wonder how much fabric got sliced out.

Doesn't help that I'm the average size of a ten year old girl.

Except for the curves.

Seemed likely that whoever was around would come to see the event.  While I wasn't much involved with the local goings on, there were still a fair number of folk who remembered the days on Hale's Moon and some of the colony elders still considered me amongst  their number. For better or worse, I was still part of the show.

Only thing I wouldn't want was those Cerberus ass clowns providing "security" at my wedding.  Last thing I needed was some combat happy mercenary making a nuisance of itself.  If I wanted actual "security" I could have a platoon of Alliance Marines as an honor guard, complete with a Brigadier General giving them their orders.  Or maybe a ranking Diplomat or too.  That'd be right amusing:  "Sorry.  Your services won't be required.  We will have actual soldiers in attendance."

The timing, of course, was the sticking point.  Or, rather, why we were on the two day timetable.

It seemed there were a few problems with trying to glean important information from the seas of my feeds.  Especially when the one entity that could hide things in the streams was making an effort to do just that.  It was something I'd well known Blue was capable of and, on some level, suspected he was doing.  At least in some circumstances.

The why of it I was yet to fathom. Unless I had grievously misjudged the big AI, he wasn't doing hiding some of these actions to hurt me.  In fact, given his previous actions, it seemed that if anything, he would be intervening to protect me.  But from what?  Or, who, rather.

Whatever was going on tied back to Lily.  That much I learned quickly from Simon's tour of x0x0's comms hub.  Whatever was going on, x0x0 was redressing the feeds between Lily's continuous transmissions and who, or what, ever was receiving them.  It was a relatively complex rouse and, for the time being, I didn't know who it was directed to.

That it was hidden from me attested to x0x0's own technical skills and Blue's intervention.  Though Blue himself was a product of x0x0's considerable technical skill.  When it came to AI, certainly, she was a good deal better than I was.

The who, though, I would deal with in short order.  With x0x0 herself out of action, Simon wanted me to step in and take her place - massaging Lily's feeds so whoever got them continued to find them, and thus her, useful to their needs.  Never mind that Mindo was dead, and his project dead with him.  Never mind that Blue himself, and x0x0, knew Lily's feeds were hoarked.  Someone was interested.  And as long as they remained interested, Lily would continue being.

Two days.

Two days before we'd gotten hitched, the 'interested party' was back to looking at these feeds, and Simon was back to an Op.

Coincidence?

No.

Not in our world.  Things like this don't just happen.  They happen for a reason, and someone was behind the scenes pulling the strings.

That was fine.  Soon enough I'd know who it was.  But, in the mean time, I had work to do a a wedding to attend, and a wedding night to show Simon just what he'd gotten himself into.  Just needed to get a few things from my boat and to set up a couple of tightly encrypted, and obfuscated, cross feeds of my own.

Reflecting in darkness

"Simon did not accompany you.  I had assumed he knew enough of our operation to join us here, especially with the impending wedding.  Was I wrong?"  Captain Hawke's voice was soft and proper, as always.  Almost a purr.  Both soothing and disconcerting at the same time, with an air of command.  He and my Grandfather would have spoken as equals.

"Simon was called away.  More business.  And, yes.  He knows enough to come join us here, even if we're not entirely on the same page with where I want this to go.  Why do you ask, Captain?"

He stepped up next to me in the observation blister above Saule Silencieuse's hanger deck, gazing out the port at the bright distant point of Kalidasa visible between two of the deployed baffles.  "You are unsure, Colonel.  Worried about the decision to marry again.  Worried whether we are doing the right thing.  I would assume, also, worried for your adoptive children."

I looked at him for a long moment, suppressing a frown.  He had called it distressingly close to the mark.  "I didn't know you were a Reader, Captain, or that my own self control had slipped that far."

A faint smile crossed his lips, not looking down to meet my eyes.  "Neither, Colonel Kawanishi.  I am intuitive, however, and have made something of a study of you over the time we have worked together.  You do not deny my assessment, which makes me believe my concern for you is justified."

"Concern for me?  I'm flattered, Captain."

"Colonel. . . Seana.  We have known each other for some years now.  I have grown to respect you both as an Officer and as a Person.  As an Officer on your executive staff, observing that you are troubled, I believe it is my duty to help you deal with your troubles.  As a Person . . . I do not like to see a friend in pain."

"We count as friends now?" I asked with a hint of amusement.  We were close professionally, but socially?

"Yes."

He stated it with absolute certainty, as if the fact was self evident.  I suppose, on some level, it was.  "Nous affirmons que ce qui est évident, eh?  Though you're right.  On most counts, anyway.  The wedding and the girls certainly.  The mission though?  I have no doubts.  I know we are doing the right thing.  Even with that sadistic old bastard."

"Good.  You know that is why remain, yes?  The Crew believes in me.  I, in turn, believe in you.  It is why we have dropped off the grid and effectively gone rogue.  In fact . . . " he paused again, waving his hand to bring up a ghostly image in front of the view port.  "I believe, we are very close to solving another issue before it comes up."

On the display, a series of orders and authorizations - not yet implemented - filled the display.  My own "official" retirement documentation, releasing me with the final rank of Colonel in an honorable discharge with full benefits.  Similar orders for Captain Hawke and several of his officers, and the piece de resistance, orders releasing Saule Silencieuse as an independent asset with an ambiguous disposition.

None of the orders had been filed, though my own retirement was just a matter of a signature at this point, and there were a few crucial signatures missing.  "Impressive.  Looks like about eighty percent of this paperwork is actually legitimate.  Nice work.  We're going to make a very expensive military asset disappear.  Though I see there's no authorization for the ship herself."

He nodded, bringing up more of the documentation, focusing on the authorization chain.  "There is none, as yet.  Unfortunately, we need someone to die before we can properly execute this."

"Someone who will conveniently be unavailable to answer for it when the Auditors ask what happened to this ship and her crew?"  His faint smile was as good as a yes.  "Taggart has probably known this was coming for a while, I'm sure.  Probably planned for it.  So who's span are we waiting for the end of?"

"There are several people with the authorization to release the ship who are also, potentially, looking at a short span.  We are watching, though, without your express authorization we do not plan to . . . expedite the process.  Once it happens, we can retcon our status as needed."

I had to laugh.  Assassination was almost always an option in the Intel community, but he know I wanted to keep our collective hands clean.  "Very well, Captain.  Let me know when someone dies, will you?"

"Of course, Colonel."

For a noble cause
Plans nested in other plans
Converging in time